


Lucky Dog

by TNKT



Series: Hound in a Suit [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Human, Betrayal, Blood Kink, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Bondage, Bondage and Discipline, Bruises, Choking, Coercion, Collars, Connor is pretty fucked up too, Control Issues, Dom/sub, Dom/sub Undertones, Elijah Kamski Being an Asshole, Emotional Manipulation, Enemies to Lovers, Everyone Being an Asshole, Gags, Gavin Reed Being an Asshole, Getting Together, Gun Violence, Humiliation, M/M, Markus is insane, Mental Health Issues, Mob Boss Markus, Moral Bankruptcy, Muzzles, No Sex until the last chapter, Non-Sexual Bondage, Non-Sexual Submission, POV Alternating, Past Abuse, Physical Abuse, Polyamory, Rival Relationship, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Starvation, Torture, Traitor Connor, Undercover Missions, Violent Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Whump, considering they're both really messed up, everyone is fucked up, probably not a super healthy relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:35:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23824687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TNKT/pseuds/TNKT
Summary: It all started when the Jericho group cut down the head of the Blue Delta group. Markus Manfred was aiming for the top of the game. Connor failed to protect the person that had allowed him to live.Having lost his home and wary of the man in front of him, the lucky dog sank his teeth in the powerful gambler's outstretched hand without knowing the odd price he'd have to pay for this act of defiance- and the many that would follow.
Relationships: Connor/Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Josh/Markus/North/Simon (Detroit: Become Human)
Series: Hound in a Suit [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1716601
Comments: 74
Kudos: 137





	1. The Dog on the Side of the Road

The solid thunk of a boot connecting with the bone of a jaw echoed through the room. The sound that followed was one of a body heavily hitting the ground. There was no other noise, not a single grunt of pain or protest.

"Stay down," snapped the woman, her braid of red hair swinging in her back as she set her foot back down on the ground. "You're not going anywhere."

The men in the room stared at the scene, some with approving smirks, others with grim looks.

"Looks like the second-in-command ran," one of them was saying into his phone. He was tall, dark-skinned, serious and clearly dissatisfied. "Stern's men were trying to protect him and their boss and that's what bought him time. No, _she's_ dead." A pause. "Well, we were planning on keeping a few alive but another one came in and nearly killed them all off, the rest are rather badly injured. He's the only one left in good shape." Another pause. "We're in the left wing. Are you- Yes. Right. "

He hung up and looked over at the other two. "Markus is on the way, he wants to see this for himself."

She muttered something under her breath that sounded disapproving but no one asked her to repeat herself.

"How did he react?" asked the blonde man standing behind her.

"He laughed."

"Oh," chuckled the woman, and she looked down at the killer at her feet with a grin. "You're in trouble."

He stared at her and said nothing. There wasn't even a hint of fear or challenge in his dark eyes, just placid expectation as blood trickled down his nose and lips. Dirt and red scuff marks littered his pale face but he didn't look in pain.

"North, watch him. Simon, make sure law enforcement hasn't been alerted. I'll put someone in charge of the clean-up."

"Sure thing," answered Simon as he took out his phone.

"He's handcuffed, Josh," stated North like he was being stupid. 

"Yes, but he's also the most dangerous of Blue Delta's men we've come across tonight. Let's not leave anything up to chance."

The killer's apprehending gaze silently flickered over to him. He didn't talk, and Josh didn't have any time to lose on another one of his boss' soon-to-be chew toys when it was this unyielding. Getting someone to speak when it was needed was more North's specialty. Josh spun around and quickly looked over the rest of the group members, singling out those who would need medical attention and ordering those who were still fit for combat to check the place for anything useful, evidence that would be left behind or surviving subordinates from the Blue Delta group that could be still lurking around the building. Then he stepped away from the room to expedite a call to their cleaners and went to walk back inside at the exact same time his boss showed up. 

Markus Manfred wore a bronze suit which wasn't the slightest bit out of order since Josh had last seen him just before they'd launched the raid, and the only notable change was that the man's lustrous shoes were now stained with blood splatters. The man wasn't ever one to go unnoticed, even though they'd all asked him time and time again to dress accordingly given how important it was that they went unnoticed until the very last second for operations like this one. The result was that they always had to hit fast and hard.

Markus smiled warmly at Josh and the latter let him pass through the doorway first with a small nod. The hand that then laid on Josh's shoulder was as friendly as it was threatening, and once they were in the room Markus told his people in a voice he never needed to raise to get heard: "Good job out here, except for letting Kamski go. What's your excuse?"

"He escaped before we even got to Stern," North said. "Looks like he was ready to jump ship, he might've been told about the raid."

"And Stern wasn't?" questioned Markus.

"No idea, but at least she was there."

Markus' gaze soon landed on the man kneeling next to North and his oddly colored eyes glittered with curiosity. His obvious interest alleviated some of the tension in the place.

"Let's see what you caught."

"No gunshots were reported by any passerby, but there's a patrol car due for these parts in half an hour," Simon intervened, cautious as always. "We can't stay here for long."

Markus just nodded and approached Amanda Stern's henchman in long, even strides. 

"Markus," Simon insisted. "Let's relocate before they find us."

"Who, the thirty-one officers I've got in my pocket? Relax, Simon. I made a call, the patrol car will be taking a different route today." Markus stood in front of the man and grinned. "We can have some fun."

"Markus," quietly spoke the man for the first time. He looked wary now in a way an animal had of gauging whether it was safer to stay still or attack.

"In the flesh!" jovially said Markus. "Connor, is it? I had a feeling it was going to be you Josh was talking about. Taking out my men left and right, I gotta say, you're good at sniffing out traitors. I've had my eye on you for a while." Markus crouched at his level. "And now here you are, like a dog left on the side of the road."

Connor narrowed his eyes at him.

"Oh?" Markus smirked. "Think your owner will be back soon?"

"You're nothing to the Blue Delta group," Connor clearly enunciated, spite in every word. "Just a cocky upstart. They'll crush you."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Why should I care? I won't be there to see it."

Markus lifted an an eyebrow. "Didn't you hear what I said? I've had my eye on you for a while."

"Do you expect me to shift loyalties for a handful of pretty words?" retorted the other. "We both know you can't let me live."

"Look around you, Connor, your home is destroyed. There's nothing left for you here. Kamski abandoned you and he's not coming back," Markus said in a soft voice dripping with faux solicitude. "How long have you been Amanda's? Ten years? More, right, I remember hearing that you've always been by her side. Don't you know a pet can't survive when it's left out in the wild? You should let me take you in."

"So this is what the head of Jericho does to widen his ranks, waste his time coming up with tasteless metaphors in hopes that they'll be convincing enough to recruit," coldly said Connor. "Ridiculous."

"Oh, so you'd rather die then betray your group even now that your boss is dead," Markus said, fakely impressed. "How courageous of you. How stupidly proud. Utterly pointless, if you ask me. You do know the goal of the game is to survive?"

"This isn't a _game_." The last word sounded like an insult in Connor's mouth.

Markus leaned on the side with his chin in his hand. "You're a grumpy one, aren't you. I bet fun isn't even part of your vocabulary. Do you at least enjoy slashing throats?"

North scoffed. "We're not all psychos here."

Markus flashed her a grin and then focused back on Connor. "From the sound of it you didn't hesitate before killing your own people, so maybe bullets are more your thing."

Connor stared at him like Markus was more of an annoyance than a threat, and just said: "No one will talk now."

"Not even you?"

Connor lifted his chin. "Least of all myself."

Markus kept the same pensive pose. "What you know isn't that important. We didn't need you to find this place, we won't need you to find her second-in-command when he's on the run and his group is this weakened." He chuckled, sounding amused. "It's funny that you think he'll crush me. What, are you imagining a sequel to this? The Return of the Stern? I like your sense of humor."

Irritation became more obvious on the other man's face. "I see nothing is serious to you. You'll lead your people to their death with that kind of behaviour."

"Your people are the ones littering this place with dead bodies, professionalism sure didn't save them," pointed out Markus.

Connor's jaw clenched.

Markus smiled and he let his hand fall in his lap as he leaned forward. "You're fun to talk to. Grumpy ones are so easy to annoy."

"Are you trying to bore me to death?"

Markus' smile widened. "Oh, no, that's definitely not the way I'd like to see you go. I wonder in what ways you made yourself useful to Amanda? I've heard murder this, murder that, I know you were her bodyguard and one of the higher ranking members of her group. Is that all?"

"Fuck off," Connor said. There wasn't any heat behind it, he just sounded done.

Markus's gaze sharpened dangerously, but then it started to follow the slow trickle of blood down Connor's lips and the way it steadily dripped from his chin to the floor. He was distracted, fascinated as he often was when faced with the sight of this particular fluid. Then he reached out to slowly smear the red across Connor's face with a hungry expression. Before North had the time to roll her eyes at Markus' odd but well-known fixation or either Simon or Josh to think that this behavior decidedly never got less creepy, Connor jerked into action. Brown eyes glinted with sudden hatred, teeth flashed and sank in Markus' hand in a second. North's features twisted in anger and she kicked Connor across the face again as Markus jerked back in surprise. 

This time North stomped her black boot down on Connor's head and leaned forward, hissing: "You wanna die?"

A broad smile spread across Markus' face and he let out a laugh. "Careful, it bites!"

Connor glared at him from beneath North's boot.

"Did you bite your old master too?" prodded Markus. 

The other man remained silent, his body tense as it was forced into this vulnerable position. Markus gestured at North to remove her foot and she reluctantly obeyed. Connor immediately lifted his head off the ground and straightened, blood matting the hair on the side of his head. Resentment sharpened his fine features and he didn't look like he'd learnt his lesson at all.

"Prideful, are we?" said Markus with a smile. "Very nice."

Josh knew what it sounded like when Markus had made up his mind. "Shall we move out?"

Markus got back to his feet, cast one last glance in Connor's direction and then turned to his men. "Yeah, let's go. North, you know what to do."

"Stand up," she ordered Connor.

His defiance faded slightly once Markus had stepped away but he still looked irritated and it made North smirk to notice it. Of course Markus had managed to get under this guy's skin, their boss had the weird power of knowing how to rub anyone the wrong way. 

"Are you deaf? I told you to get up," she loudly said when he didn't comply, and she fisted the back of his bloody collar to heft him up. He went with it.

"Are you finally going to kill me?" he asked her.

"Markus has other plans for you."

"I won't join your ranks."

"He doesn't care. Grit your teeth."

It was fortunate that Connor was already very tense and his jaw clenched as a result, because he didn't have time to understand what she meant before North's gloved fist hit him square in the chin with such speed that his head snapped back and the world instantly went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- 24/04/2020 - 
> 
> Hey pumpkin! Here it is, a brand new AU while I've barely even started the college one~ I hope you'll like it!  
> This is going to be fun and I'm rubbing my hands at the thought of all the wild shenanigans these two crazies are going to be up to.
> 
> Thanks for reading, leave a comment if you feel like it!


	2. A New Hand

Markus watched with a satisfied smile as North prepared to dump a bucked of cold water on top of Amanda Stern's bodyguard. He was satisfied because he hadn't really counted on getting his hands on the man that had been throwing multiple wrenches in Markus' plans to take over the city- on Amanda's orders of course, and simply as her lackey, and Markus wasn't as spiteful as to kill another's subordinate for having obeyed their old boss' orders when they could still be useful to him. Markus knew Connor had been the one to stop Jericho from learning very valuable information about Amanda's activities through their inside men by picking them off one by one. It was what had made Amanda so wary of Markus' existence in the first place, because there always seemed to be a traitor in her ranks that belonged to Jericho; the truth was that Markus had started half-considering it a game to see if Connor would miss one eventually. He'd never been disappointed and his interest had only kept growing. Connor was Amanda's right arm and executioner and one of the best in the domain of stealth kills. Markus had found himself wondering more than once what it would be like to have such an efficient assassin under his orders. North was more of a torturer and Simon, while stealthy, had never developed a propensity for murder. Markus didn't really _need_ an assassin like Connor, Jericho had been doing fine without, but wouldn't it make things so much easier? And Amanda had the right idea keeping a hound at her heel, Markus wanted to know what that was like. He'd had one or two pets before but never anything so dangerous.

Now Amanda was out of the picture and Connor was laying at his feet. It felt like winning a prize.

The water splashed over Connor's inanimate shape and he immediately jolted back to consciousness. Markus noticed how silently he did so and remembered the man had also been silent when North had crushed his head against the ground with her foot. Interesting. It would probably take a lot to make this one scream and Markus wondered with dark curiosity how far he'd need to go.

Connor blinked through the water that trickled into his eyes as it washed away dried blood and dirt and then glared at Markus when he recognized him. His shoulders hunched up and his thighs tensed as if getting ready to lunge forward, but Connor stilled when the sound of handcuffs clinking against metal rang out in the still air between them. Just to be safe, Simon had also asked North to get some rope out and Connor's feet were bound as well. His eyes flickered down to his legs and then up to North who was still standing next to him.

Markus confidently leaned back in his chair and spoke as if they'd never stopped their conversation. "So, what do they have on you? It must be pretty bad for you to remain so loyal to a dead boss. Tell me and I'll make sure that changes."

Connor's guarded gaze roamed around the room they were in before settling back on him, and he asked: "Where are we?"

"Hm." Markus looked at North. "That doesn't sound like an answer I'm looking for."

"No, it doesn't," she agreed, and she swiftly kicked Connor in the stomach.

His breath hitched and he curled up on himself, but again, his voice didn't come out.

"Maybe he's just confused," said Markus.

Connor unfolded his body and glared at him. "Why should I tell you anything? Blue Delta isn't over. You failed to destroy the group in its entirety and they'll come back."

"Oh, you're talking about Kamski. I don't know why you're placing so much faith in him. Weren't you two rivals?"

Connor's eyes narrowed but he didn't answer, not that Markus cared to hear one in this regard.

"I know you hated each other. You may have killed my men but you couldn't stop all the leaks from happening at once. Both gunning for Amanda's position once she'd step down, huh?"

It was what Markus had figured was going on in the group from the reports he'd had of the dynamics within Blue Delta. Kamski had made no secret of his hatred for Connor, probably feeling that his position as second-in-command was compromised by Connor's unfailing compliance and fulfillment of every one of Amanda Stern's wishes.

Still Connor didn't answer.

"You were never considered an equal by Amanda. Just a tool," continued Markus. That much had been obvious to every one of his informers as soon as they'd integrated Blue Delta. "I wonder why Kamski felt so threatened? Maybe he knew something others didn't. Were you really just her henchman?"

Connor stared at him with cold eyes. A second passed and North's fist flew out, catching Connor square in the cheekbone. His head snapped to the side.

" _Answer_ ," she growled.

Connor wordlessly looked back at Markus without even sparing her a glance. 

Markus smiled and said: "I like when they do that, usually. It makes things fun. But you're a bit different."

It was just a feeling but Markus could tell pain wouldn't be what would make Connor cave in. North probably wouldn't be useful in this situation and making her waste her energy for such slim chances of success wasn't a wager he felt like making, so he gestured to her to stand back.

"Someone as proud as you wouldn't take well to being treated as a tool. It's strange that this is how everyone seemed to perceive you in Blue Delta. There must be something my men didn't know," Markus mused aloud. Then he shrugged. "Well, whatever. Let's get back to our little problem. You say you'll remain loyal to Kamski even with things being the way they are, so either he's got something big planned ahead, either you fear whatever he'll do to you more than what we could do. You were willing to die so I imagine it's probably the latter."

Markus stopped there. North didn't step forward to hit Connor when he stayed silent.

After a full minute of quiet, Connor finally asked: "What are you getting at?" 

"Work for me," Markus said without missing a beat. "I brought Amanda down and I'll do the same with Kamski. Work for me and you'll be among those who rule this city."

Connor gazed at him for a few seconds, and then looked up at North. "You might as well kill me now if that's what all he wants."

She laughed. "Nah. You don't get to make the rules."

Markus was amused as well. "Come on, Connor. Kamski's going down either way so _you_ might as well join me. What do you have to lose? You'll have the same duties as you did under Amanda's orders. I even had this great idea while you were napping: once we put Kamski's head on the chopping block, you'll get the remains of your beloved group and will align beneath the Jericho name. All's well that ends well, win-win situation, high fives all around. What do you say?"

"Why do you want me in your ranks so badly?" asked Connor.

Markus felt irritation scratch beneath his skin, his smile hardening into a smirk. He leaned forward and said: "I think I'm getting a little tired of your tendency to avoid answering my questions."

Connor's features darkened, his body language went slightly more rigid. He was on his guard. His gaze flew to the side where North was still standing completely immobile and then back to Markus.

"Answer me," said Markus in a low voice. "You _don't_ want to piss me off."

Connor's brown eyes were cautiously searching and he must've seen Markus threats for what they were- very serious ones- because hesitance appeared in them. It was only for a very brief moment, barely a flicker, but Markus saw the crack in the man's mask.

"It seems a bit too convenient," Connor flatly said.

"Convenient's always better than a bullet in your brain, right?"

"Why isn't there one yet?"

He still hadn't answered. Markus let out a low whistle and then said: "Connor, Connor. You must have a mean death wish. I think you might be pissing me off."

"Why do you want me to join?" insisted Connor still.

Markus glanced at North who had a knowing light in her eyes. She knew what he was about to say; he could see it in the faint smile on her lips that was equally amused and annoyed. He looked back down at Connor.

"Because it's interesting." Then Markus stood up. "Looks like you've pissed me off. North, mind stepping out for a moment?"

"Sure, boss." She walked around Connor and the chair Markus had been sitting in and vanished behind the door.

Markus came closer to the man sitting on the ground. Connor warily followed his movements. 

"What is it?" Markus asked him. "Are you trying to provoke me so I'll kill you faster? Are you buying time? Is it that you need more details to make your decision?"

Markus crouched next to him and just as he'd expected, Connor didn't so much as shift. They were only inches apart and he half expected the man to bite him again but Connor was only looking him in the eye and did nothing else. It was almost unnatural how still he was. Neither of them was going to back down and Markus was certain of two things in that moment: that Connor would have to be trained into compliance, and that it would be fairly entertaining to do it.

"You were so very docile beneath Amanda and now you're just like any wild dog," he said with a half-smile.

In the same level voice he'd used since the beginning, Connor replied: "Your metaphors are shit."

Markus felt irritation spike and his arm shot out to grab Connor by the hair. He wrenched the man's head to the side, forcing him to bend until his temple was grazing the floor. Markus wasn't used to being this disrespected. It would be a problem if Connor kept up this attitude as his subordinate. Connor's arm was twisted at an odd angle and Markus knew it had to be painful, but only the man's strained breathing indicated any kind of discomfort.

"You'll need taming but I'm sure I can pull it off," he continued as if nothing had happened. "You know, I wonder what it takes to make you yelp."

Connor's shoulders started shaking and it took Markus a moment to realize that the other was laughing.

"I can't believe _this_ is the head of Jericho." Connor glared at him from his awkward angle beneath Markus' grip with eyes full of spite. "Here I thought you'd do justice to your reputation for cruelty, but all you've done is torture me with your terrible sense of humor. The worst joke here is y-"

Markus smashed his head against the ground and although Connor didn't shout, it at least shut him up.

"I'm beginning to think a muzzle might be a necessity."

Connor opened his mouth again but Markus threw the man's head back against the beam he was tied to and got up in the same fluid movement to dig his foot into his stomach. Connor heaved this time, but Markus didn't leave him the time to retch or breathe before kicking him again in the exact same spot and then twice more for good measure. The last blow finally elicited a groan of pain. Winded, Connor went limp and dazedly shook his head as he struggled to find air.

"So you do feel it," observed Markus. His blood thrummed with the thirst for violence but he couldn't let his taste for suffering take over. He wanted Connor alive enough to serve him. 

Markus wrapped his fingers in the man's hair again and pulled his head up to have a clear view of his face, and then punched Connor in the temple. He did it again. And again. And again. His knuckles found Connor's eye and another of his punches burst a vessel in Connor's nose. Markus only stopped once Connor had been beaten enough that he stayed down and kept his damn mouth shut. Markus crouched again to look Connor in his swollen eye.

"You're not stupid. You know I'd do so much worse than this before you were allowed to die. It's what I would be doing right now if I didn't want you." Markus smiled darkly and dug his fingers in the bleeding wound his fifth punch had opened in the skin of Connor's temple. A thrill of pleasure coursed through him when Connor couldn't suppress his wince. Markus' hand was positioned high enough that Connor wouldn't be able to bite him as fast as he had the last time. Markus knew someone like Connor wouldn't be above trying the same thing twice if the first time had worked.

Markus kept thinking aloud. "You're exactly the kind of guy I'd reserve skinning to. Does Kamski like to remove people's organs while they're alive to see it? I really wonder how you'd be more scared of him than of me. Maybe you need some time to think. I'm willing to give it to you. Look at that, you managed to buy some time in the end. Isn't that great?"

Markus had trailed Connor's blood in his hair and it was clotting between his fingers as he spoke. The air smelled strongly of iron and it went straight to his dick like always, but this wasn't the kind of wound that aroused him most.

"Blood looks good on you," he told Connor approvingly.

Markus waited to see if Connor would give him some kind of witty retort, maybe offer him some advice about getting his head fixed like so many before him had done before they'd died horribly, but all Connor did was glare. That seemed to be Connor's favorite method of rebellious communication. Markus smirked and let go of Connor's head to wipe his hand on the man's clothes, then he straightened. He took a moment to adjust his suit and looked down.

"Think on it, Connor."

Then Markus turned and left, and as he walked through the door he gestured to North who'd been waiting outside the whole time. 

"Get two people to watch him for the next three days and only feed him on the last."

She nodded and Markus walked past her. Taking Connor in probably wouldn't be the easiest process. The idea of it hadn't pleased any of his three advisors. Markus knew it was a big gamble, and the thought made him smile. He'd always been a gambling man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- 28/04/2020 -
> 
> Markus: Join my emo band  
> Connor: I would rather die
> 
> (Thanks for the quote idea, Black!)
> 
> Hey pumpkin!
> 
> What do you think of Connor's calm and silence through everything? Seems he's a very tough cookie.  
> As for Markus he's having the time of his life, new toys are always so exciting!
> 
> Thanks for reading, leave a comment if you feel like it!


	3. Earn It

Connor's stomach growled but he ignored it, just as he'd been ignoring the hunger pangs for the last few days. Neither of the men sitting next to the door looked at him. The guards had changed once every day so the people watching him were never the same. Connor had expected torture but they hadn't even spared him a glance since the beginning and he figured that Markus was probably willing to give him one more chance before his refusal made him go the hard way. It still didn't make sense to Connor why Markus was so intent on making him join Jericho. Was this the way Markus had recruited his other men? Taking them from rival groups? It sounded risky but that wouldn't have been the first time Connor had heard of something like this happening. It certainly wouldn't have surprised him to learn that Markus' way of doing this was simply always this reckless.

It wasn't the first time Connor had experienced this level of hunger either. He'd definitely gone through worse, but it was still a method of discipline he was less familiar with than a simple beating and this meant it was less easy to adapt to. He hadn't had time to eat on his two-day mission before the raid so in reality it had been five days he'd spent on an empty belly. At least he was allowed water and they let him piss on his own like a civilized human being.

Markus had been right about Connor on several points but it was clear he didn't know anything of what Connor's position had been to Amanda and her higher ranking subordinates. As much as Connor despised them, the truth was that he'd obey Elijah and the others just like he'd obeyed Amanda. His whole life he'd been subservient and it was never going to change. Amanda had made so that he belonged to the group and working for them was meant to be his lifelong purpose no matter what happened.

Connor couldn't deny that Markus' proposition was attractive, and he knew that another sane person would have accepted it in a heartbeat. Elijah wasn't even holding anything over Connor's head. Only people could be blackmailed and Connor had never been someone, just a shadow Amanda had chosen to take as her own. Moreover, Elijah was one of the three people from Blue Delta which Connor could least stand. The man's blatant mockery and constant belittling rankled him in the same way Markus' stupid little dog jokes did and Connor would often get in trouble for it. Finally, Elijah was cruel. Cruel, remorseless, and Connor had never once perceived him as human. At least Gavin and Zlatko had showed some kind of release when hurting Connor, like satisfaction or gloating or anger, but Elijah never had. He just gave them the ideas and smiled as he watched.

Connor didn't _want_ to be Elijah's to order.

But Markus was responsible for Amanda's death and Connor's loyalty to her was unshakeable. He owed his life to her. He owed _everything_ to Blue Delta and for that reason he was to give all of himself to them, and the only worth he had was what they deemed him to have. If obeying Elijah was what it took to remain loyal to Amanda, then Connor would do it. It didn't matter what Markus promised he could offer in exchange for Connor's services, survival or riches or power; Connor only lived for Blue Delta's cause.

During his time here tied to a post and sitting on the cold ground, Connor's thoughts had often returned to what he knew about Markus Manfred. Connor had never had the mission to gather information on the man; his job wasn't to torture as much as it was to murder which was more Zlatko's. Connor unmasked the traitors in Blue Delta's midst but Zlatko was the one to make them sing if Connor hadn't already had to kill them. They'd spilled some interesting information under Zlatko's care- it amused Connor that Markus was naive enough to think no one in Blue Delta enjoyed dissecting humans alive- and they'd learned that Markus ran a far deeper part of the city than they'd thought. Amanda had started paying closer attention to her rival's activities from then on. Connor didn't understand how she could've been clueless about the raid Jericho had been preparing, surely something this big would've reached her ears. Kamski had managed to run but she hadn't tried, which Connor was sure of because he'd found her body in her office surrounded by a dozen of her dead subordinates. Too late. Too late to save her. She'd assigned him on a mission just before Jericho had hit and he'd returned after the battle had already been lost. The only thing left to do was to protect Amanda's legacy and that meant destroying evidence that would stop it from living on. It meant killing compromised allies. It meant mass murder.

Of course Jericho never could have anticipated the rampage Connor had unleashed on everyone in the building. No one alive had known what Connor was truly capable of but Amanda, and now even she was gone.

Markus Manfred was indeed powerful, and contrary to what Connor had claimed he couldn't be sure Blue Delta's remaining forces were still able to compete. Amanda had made a mistake in slowing Markus' progress rather than crushing him outright. There were alliances she hadn't known of and this ignorance had caused Amanda's downfall. Connor couldn't come to terms with the fact that he hadn't been there to protect her when she'd been killed by Markus' men. 

Now Elijah was Blue Delta's next best hope and he was on the run. The man was resourceful and cunning and Connor knew he'd find a way to get the group back on track but there was no knowing how long it would take, or if Elijah even cared that Connor survived long enough to get back to them. If Connor survived and joined Elijah again, he knew his life would become hell. The selfish part of Connor's mind whispered to him that it would probably be better to make Markus angry enough to kill him so he wouldn't have to cross paths with Elijah again; but the rational side of him knew full well that if Elijah somehow asked him to, he would go back without a moment's doubt. It wouldn't matter that Stern was the weaker group or that Markus only needed a snap of his fingers to destroy what was left of them and it wouldn't matter that Connor suffered under Elijah's command. His loyalty left him little choice. It was really a matter of time before even Connor's loyalty played a role in the future; if Elijah didn't contact him before Markus forced him to integrate Jericho's ranks, Connor would have to die. He wouldn't obey to anyone that wasn't part of Blue Delta. 

One of the two guards who'd been looking at his phone suddenly rose from his seat and said: "I'm getting the food. Two minutes."

The other just nodded. He was the same person Connor had seen when they'd neutralized him at the end of the raid on the Blue Delta headquarters, and he thought he remembered the tall one had called him Simon. The mere mention of food made Connor's stomach cramp and he couldn't stop himself from staring at the first man as he walked out of the room. Connor had been starved before, yes, but not while completely deprived of movement. He'd had objectives to follow and they'd kept his mind off his physical needs. Having to sit there unable to do anything else made it a lot harder to convince himself that his hunger didn't matter. Connor's gaze snapped over to the side when he noticed the blonde guard stand up as well and tensed when he came closer. The man stopped in front of him and crouched, and his voice was low when he spoke.

"This has to be quick, so listen closely: Kamski wants you to destroy Jericho from the inside. My name's Daniel, I'll be your contact. Accept Markus' deal and I'll give you a list of intel you can give him to convince him that you've shifted sides."

Connor stared at him for a second too long, his brain slow from lack of energy. He hadn't known that there were agents within Jericho but then again it hadn't been his job to know. Simon or Daniel, whatever his real name was, had seemed to be one of the more important people under Markus' command. Was it really possible Markus' inner circle had been infiltrated without anyone knowing?

Eventually Connor managed to get over his initial surprise and said: "What's my mission exactly?"

"Kill Markus, North, Simon and Josh. I'll spread misinformation in the meantime."

"Kill Simon?" repeated Connor in confusion.

Daniel stared at him and then looked slightly annoyed when he figured out what Connor was asking. "Yeah, dumbass, we're not the same person."

It didn't take long for Connor to understand. Of course, there was no way someone like Markus wouldn't have caught on if one of his closest members had been a fraud. Aiming for one of the advisor's family, however... It was a smart move. 

"We'll move in once you're done," continued Daniel. "Kamski wants to make sure you're still loyal to Blue Delta now that Amanda's dead."

Connor frowned, insulted that this would even be put into question. "Of course I am."

Daniel shrugged, nonplussed. "Kamski's orders. You don't get back in before this is over."

Then he stood up again and backed off to leave Connor to ponder on these news. The first man came back moments later with a plastic bag in his hand and he walked up to Connor.

"You can eat," he told him in a deep voice. "I'm going to undo the handcuffs."

He didn't warn Connor against running but there was no need to. He was huge. No doubt his bulk usually made enough of an argument by itself.

"Luther, your gun," said Daniel. "Remember what they told us."

Luther looked at him and reached in his back to take out his weapon which he handed to the other man with no hesitation, and then he stepped around Connor and kneeled behind him. Connor understood that one of the advisors who'd seen him in action at the raid had probably warned these two that he was good at turning someone's weapon against them. Daniel smiled at Connor while Luther wasn't looking as if to say: _see how they trust me?_

Connor didn't react and waited for the handcuffs to fall away. When they did, he immediately brought his arms back to his front and clenched and unclenched his fists. His hands were numb and cold and his articulations ached from being forced into the same unnatural position for more than 48 hours. Once enough blood had returned to his arms, Connor reached for his face to check if anything had broken. Markus' punches were heavy and they'd landed true every time but by some miracle Connor's face wasn't that badly damaged. Swollen, cut and bruised, that was certain, but nothing that wouldn't heal fast and on its own. Most of the pain had faded into a background clamor in the first few hours that had followed Markus' departure.

Luther dumped the contents of the bag in front of him and ordered: "Eat."

Connor didn't need to be asked twice and he quickly teared open the packaged sandwich. Sharp pain tightened in the sides of his face when saliva flooded his mouth as he hungrily bit down on the soft bread. He hadn't once tried to appeal to his captors and had kept quiet about it but he was too hungry and there was no holding back now that he had food at his disposal. Connor's self-control was better than most, but when some of his base primal instincts came into play it could become difficult to push them down. Hunger was one of those. The relief that spread from his mouth to his face made him light-headed, he couldn't munch and swallow fast enough to sate the gnawing pit in his gut.

"Woah, slow down," Daniel told him. "Markus needs you alive to talk, can't do that if you choke."

Connor glared, thinking _and who's fault do you think this is?_ but he was too busy eating to spare them a verbal answer. Besides, he didn't feel as angry as he would've been if he wasn't finally satisfying his body's urges. Connor realized this was exactly what Markus was aiming for when another pair of footsteps rang out in the room and the head of Jericho himself stepped in with a magnanimous smile.

"Enjoying your meal?"

Connor didn't pause in the process of wolfing down the sandwich in case Markus was there to take it away from him. It really seemed like it wouldn't be his style but Connor couldn't put it past him.

"Take your time," said Markus, and Connor hated that he sounded amused by the sight.

Connor ignored him. He knew Markus was here to convince him and that feeding him just before their talk, after three days of starvation- which Markus didn't know were actually five- on top of the pain that had lasted equally long and the inability to sleep correctly for three nights, was a way of making Connor more receptive to his suggestions.

"Hope the cold cleared your head a little," the man continued as he took one of the guard's chairs and pulled it closer, the raking sound loudly filling the air. Then he sat down and crossed his legs in a pose that breathed ease and confidence. 

Markus didn't say anything else as Connor ate and kept smiling that smug, irritating smile. Did he think the last three days would've been enough to sway Connor, had Daniel not just given him the mission to accept his deal? It made Connor want to grab one of the guns on Daniel and shoot that smirk right off the man's face. Resentment churned in his stomach but it could've been the uncomfortable weight of the food after not eating for so long. Connor finished the sandwich and rubbed his fingers together to get rid of the crumbs sticking to his hands.

"You probably didn't have much else to do but give this all some thought," Markus said once he saw Connor swallow his last bite. "So, what's your answer?"

Connor listlessly answered: "This is the only option for me to survive."

"Only chance to win the game," Markus agreed with a wide smile. His stupid metaphors again. Did this even qualify as one? It just sounded idiotic to Connor. How had Jericho risen to such power with such a careless leader?

Tamping down his growing irritation, Connor kept a straight face and said: "I don't have a choice in the matter. I suppose you'll want me to prove my brand new and unending loyalty to you by telling you all I know about Blue Delta?"

"Oh, each thing in its time," said Markus with a light chuckle. "Kamski's the least of my problems right now, in fact I don't even care where that rat's gone. First I want to see what you're capable of, prove that you can and want to be useful to Jericho and I'll see how I'll want your obedience tested then."

Connor noted that Markus had said obedience instead of loyalty and knew that the man knew exactly what he was saying. Markus wasn't looking for a subordinate in Connor because he didn't know if Connor was worth one yet. For now, Markus wanted to know what he was working with rather than who.

"Then let me show you," evenly answered Connor.

"That's what I like to hear. See, I knew you were smart enough to choose the more reasonable course of action." 

Despite his approving words, Markus' grin had sharpened and Connor could tell he wasn't convinced by Connor's compliance at all. Clearly Markus hadn't actually expected the three days of starvation and lack of sleep after just a few beatings to be enough to sway Connor and could tell that something was up. It didn't surprise Connor. He hadn't expected to fool Markus so easily himself, and in that moment he had the distinct feeling that they were starting a game of watchful waiting. Connor would have to tread lightly.

North was there when Connor was finally untied. She stayed close to him as a warning all the way to Jericho's headquarters and trailed behind him as Markus showed him the place with that same carefree attitude he hadn't once dropped since he'd shown up to hear Connor's answer in the cold empty room. Jericho's headquarters were smaller than Blue Delta's but it was a building in plain sight of any random passerby and so of any police officer, and Connor wondered if Markus' influence on the city was only limited to the thirty-one corrupt officers he'd mentioned before. Probably not.

Markus never once introduced him to anyone and Connor knew that this would've been the norm for newcomers like him in any other criminal organisation, but it felt like being paraded around when Markus was the one doing it and Connor really didn't like it. It would've been fine if Markus had just been going around talking to his people and making it so that Connor was ignored, made to feel meaningless as long as he hadn't shown his worth, but instead Markus always ended up pointing at him and saying: "Isn't this interesting?"

And the other would either glance at or outright scrutinize Connor, and Connor knew there would be no going around unnoticed thanks to a low status in Jericho's ranks the way he'd hoped for. It didn't matter that Markus didn't give them his name when they'd remember his face. Some of these people even seemed a bit amused as if they'd seen this happen before and knew the way Connor was feeling. Markus was calling everyone's attention to the fact that Connor didn't belong here, that he was an outsider, that nothing indicated Connor should be trusted by anyone here. The way Markus and North made him follow the head of Jericho around the whole building like some poodle ensured Connor would be known by the whole group as early as on the first day of him being there, and it was also demeaning. Connor kept his features smooth and his posture straight and pretended he didn't care.

Eventually Connor also got to meet Josh and Simon in a different context from getting the shit beat out of him and he soon noticed that they weren't that happy to have him there. None of Markus' three advisors seemed to want him around and he understood that they hadn't been as eager as Markus to bring him in Jericho, which meant the top brass of Jericho didn't necessarily agree with the head's actions. Maybe this was a rift he'd be able to exploit.

Connor was assigned a task on the first day of his presence within New Jericho to accompany two members, Kara and Rupert, to confront one of their indebted victims. Her smile was oddly kind and his eyes were darkly cautious. Kara was the one leading their trio. Unlike the hierarchy in Blue Delta which had been comprised of Amanda as the head, Elijah as her right arm, Connor, Gavin and Zlatko as her personal enforcers and the rest of the organisation as soldiers, Jericho's was more complex. It was a bit similar to that of an army, and in this scenario Kara was a sergeant while Rupert was a private. Connor was nothing yet. They went to a man's house where he grovelled and begged them to take pity on his family at least. 

Kara offered him that same kind smile and said: "I'm very sorry to tell you this, but that won't be possible."

Then she gestured for Connor to shoot while Rupert was stepping deeper inside the house to collect their due. Connor pulled the trigger like he always did: neatly, lethally, and without hesitation. Brain and blood splattered on the floor.

Kara must have been satisfied with him because Connor kept being sent out to kill more people during the three days that followed. It was easy and familiar and Connor tried not to think too much about the fact that he was doing this for Markus instead of Amanda. Daniel gave him the list of safe intel as promised and Connor memorized it for later, when and if ever it was needed. He wasn't sure why Markus still hadn't asked him more about Blue Delta. Maybe Markus truly didn't care where Elijah had ran off to, maybe he didn't even care to know more about Amanda's activities.

In those three days Connor learned as much as he could about his targets' movements within and outside of Jericho's headquarters. North was often on site, either at the headquarters to deal with internal problems or in a safehouse torturing people for information, or simply flanking Markus when it was him doing the talking. Josh's presence in the building varied depending on the amount of meetings Markus couldn't or wouldn't attend himself. Connor noticed that most of the time Josh went because Markus found them too boring. Simon was rarely around for long as he spent most of his time outside of Jericho gathering information through his own means. Markus' movements were odd and Connor didn't know whether he'd expected that or not. Amanda as the head of Stern had spent most of her days in her office directing her group's actions from afar. Markus also frequently stayed in his office but he was more often on the move than she had been, participating directly in some of the more dangerous operations, throwing himself in physical conflict like it wasn't anything serious. Sometimes he up and disappeared and Connor didn't know where. There were parts of the building he didn't have access to but Connor was counting on that being a _yet_ scenario for when he'd be fully taken in Jericho as one of Markus' men.

Things were going smoothly, and they could have continued that way if by the end of the week Connor hadn't felt a well-known tension suddenly rise within him and unfurl in electric waves through his mind. It struck like lightning. It was like what he'd experienced when the realization had hit him that Amanda was dead, it was something he'd both missed and despised in his time with Blue Delta, it was what had made Amanda so interested in him in the first place. It was brutal and liberating and bloody. 

It was Connor's curse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- 04/05/2020 -
> 
> Hey pumpkin!  
> We got a little exposition on Connor's side here. Of course, killing off Amanda doesn't mean she'll be gone from the story, as you can tell.  
> What do you think of Connor's experience with Blue Delta?  
> And what is this talk about a curse...?
> 
> Thanks for reading, leave a comment if you feel like it!


	4. I Own Your Ass

Markus stormed in the building with North at his side. They'd been called in by a subordinate who'd said something about Connor losing it in the middle of negotiations, and from the sound of things, this behaviour had probably cost them a positive outcome. The door flew open and they stepped into the room where the exchange was supposed to happen, and there they both stopped dead in their tracks. The air held the delightful tang of iron and the place was covered in a beautiful dark red laquer pooling beneath the corpses that were laying on the ground. Markus saw his two men standing on each side of the room with their guns pointed ahead of them. The guns were aimed at Connor, whose hands were empty. His dark gray suit was stained and when he angled his face towards the two arrivals, Markus saw splatters of blood slashing the paleness of the man's skin in graceful arabesques and artful splotches of color. What truly mesmerized Markus, however, was the look in Connor's eyes. There was something different about him, something wild.

"What happened?" snapped North.

Neither of the two men turned away from Connor. One of them was bleeding- Markus remembered his name was John.

"He went against our orders and killed them all," he spat.

"They were going to kill us first," calmly answered Connor. His voice was smooth like always but the dangerous light in his gaze made everything about him sharper.

Markus took in the blood that surrounded them again and wondered how this had happened. " _You_ did this?"

Connor looked at him but John talked before he could answer, though Markus had a feeling Connor wouldn't have said anything at all.

"He's insane," John insisted. "Markus, he ruined this. He pulled out his gun and started shooting before anyone could react, didn't stop even when we told him to stand down."

"You were going to get killed," Connor said.

"You don't know that!" yelled John, and Markus had the feeling they'd argued about this before he'd showed up with North.

He wished he could've seen Connor in action.The smell of blood was heady and making Markus warm. Next to him, North pulled out her own weapon and curtly gestured towards the corpses with her head.

"You two hurry and clean this place up, we'll handle this."

"Yessir." The two henchmen tucked their guns back in the waistband of their pants and stepped away.

"Markus," she said.

He belatedly realized what the red scenery was distracting him from. As good as the blood looked on Connor, he'd gone against direct orders of Jericho members and Markus couldn't let that shit fly. He imitated North and Connor found himself at the end of two barrels yet again.

"You have some explaining to do," steadily said Markus. "You do realize disobeying them was a very bad move."

Connor didn't particularly look like he cared. "I protected them. You should be thankful."

"What made you think John was going to get shot?" Markus asked.

"I could tell." A faint smile twisted Connor's lips, provocative and out of place on his usually serious face. "There are some things only the best can see and your men clearly don't qualify. Why do you think John is wounded? He was shot first even though I was the dangerous one, because _he_ was that man's target."

"You still went against your orders," growled North.

"I did," agreed Connor. 

Clearly he didn't think he'd done the wrong thing. He almost looked proud of himself. Markus didn't know if this was a move on Connor's part that he simply couldn't read, or if this was Connor acting out without an underlying motive. What was the purpose of disobeying in his situation? He'd protected Markus' men so maybe it was to gain his trust.

North glanced to his side. "Markus, what do we do with him?"

Markus took the time to think for a second, and then he lowered his gun and handed it to her. "Take it."

She frowned. "What?"

He kept his arm outstretched and eventually felt the weight of his gun disappear, and then Markus strode over to Connor.

North's alarmed reaction was instant. "Markus, what are you-"

Markus didn't hesitate. He saw the way Connor turned from confused to wary in the second Markus' arm flew out and reacted in time to block it. Markus' leg shot out to sweep Connor's from under him in the same movement and Connor managed to avoid it, but dodging shifted his center of gravity and that was enough for Markus to take advantage of by shouldering Connor's frame into a stumble and punching him in the gut. Markus hadn't held back and he'd fully expected Connor to double over the moment his fist connected with the other's stomach, but instead Connor's shoulders just hiked up. Then Markus felt hands wrap around his wrist in an unforgiving grip.

_No way._

This fucker was going to try and break it.

Markus instantly brought his other arm down on Connor's neck hard enough to make that grip falter, enough that he could tear his wrist away before the threat became snapped bones. The clothesline wasn't as effective when it came from the side but it must have stunned Connor for a bit because Markus managed to grab the back of his neck and stepped back to punch Connor in the stomach again. This time Connor couldn't fight back against his own body's jack-knifing and the weight pressing down on his nape, and Markus forced him to kneel on the ground. Even though he was stronger than Connor in their current position, he could feel how the other man fought against him all the way. He wasn't yielding.

"You really don't know your place," growled Markus, and he grabbed Connor by the hair with his other hand. 

Connor only had the time to let out a single short sound of protest before Markus smashed his head into the ground. Connor grunted but didn't shout, his shoulders shaking with effort as he tried to push himself back up straight away. Markus had to use even more strength the second time for the man's body to finally go limp when his head collided with the hard floor, and even then he cautiously kept the same position for a few more seconds in case Connor was only pretending to be KO. When it became clear that Connor really was unconscious, Markus let go and leaned back on his heels.

"Why didn't you just shoot him?" asked North behind him.

"Wouldn't have shown him who's the boss," explained Markus without looking up. "We're going to talk about this with the others."

"You might have killed him. That was pretty brutal."

Markus waved her concerns away. "It's fine, it's fine, it's just a little blow to the head. We've all had worse happen to us."

She rolled her eyes and stepped over to hand him back his gun. "I hope you're not gonna ask me to carry him back to the car."

Markus laughed. "You read my mind."

Simon was _not_ happy. "You want to keep him around even after he pulled that shit?"

"What he said makes sense, John was a target. Besides that group isn't exactly one comprised of upstanding criminals so it's not like I wasn't expecting something like this to happen. The guys should've been more careful. If Connor hadn't been there we would've lost at least one of our own."

"He still messed up the negotiations before any of them actually shot," pointed out North. "I get that it's good he reacted when he did but he should've stopped when they told him to. And there was too much blood! Obviously he didn't just try to kill them, it was like what happened at Blue Delta the other day! The guy's like a mad dog!"

Josh chuckled on the side, his shoulder brushing against Simon's when he lifted a hand to his chin. "It's fitting. A mad dog to add to the kennel."

She turned on him with a glare. "Don't you start with that again. It's not funny."

"It's a harmless joke, North."

"We're not damn _dogs!_ "

Markus smiled. He knew what they were referencing from the amount of times he'd heard echoes of what his advisors had been christened by people on the outside, and even by their own: the Kennel. North hated it because it was said Markus' advisors were so loyal they'd be lost without him, like dogs without their master. She despised being called the Dobermann even though the threatening sound of it suited her, and Markus personally thought she'd gotten the best breed out of the three. North had her pride and being compared to a dog made her feel like they saw her as a stooge that was constantly at Markus' beck and call, a concept which she vehemently disagreed with even though that was factually what she was. In fact, all of this was giving Markus an idea. He laid his hands out on his desk and this simple movement was enough to cut Josh and North's argument short.

"I think I know what to do about Connor, don't worry your pretty little heads over it. And North, no real damage was actually done. John's alive and those rats are dead. All's well that ends well."

"You just _love_ saying that," she muttered.

"Markus, this is serious. You can't let this matter go," Simon insisted.

"I know, I know. Look, you have to give me the time to break him in. It's not fun if he doesn't rebel at least a little at first."

Simon sighed. "Don't underestimate him, you haven't seen what he's capable of. Trust us when we say he's more dangerous than the people you usually recruit that way."

"I expect him to try and backstab me after we killed his old boss," Markus told them all. "This is tame in comparison to what I'm ready for him to attempt."

"Then _why_ are you still keeping him around if you're so certain he'll betray you?" exclaimed an exasperated North.

"Because it's interesting," answered Markus with a grin. "Life would be boring without a little suspense to spice things up."

Josh lightly shook his head with a quiet chuckle. "Well, you've kept yourself and us alive up until now. I don't see why that would change."

Markus looked at North and Simon. "See? Josh's got the right idea. Think of this as a bet: either Connor attempts betrayal and we have to kill him in which case you two win the bet, either I get control over him before that happens and I win the bet. _And_ a loyal assassin to boot. Fair? We'll decide what the winner gets after we know who won."

"What if he kills you before we kill him?" retorted North.

Markus darkly smiled at her. "He won't."

North knew better than to keep arguing with him when he sounded like this.

Markus walked down the corridor alone in slow strides that never once betrayed his eagerness. He was looking forward to messing with his newest recruit whose grim, no-nonsense disposition never failed to be entertaining. His hand tightened around the object in his hand and he smirked to himself. This was going to be fun. Markus opened one of the doors without a moment's hesitation and stepped in to face an already frowning Connor. He'd been kept under watch until it was clear he wouldn't die from his head wound, and then he'd been left alone in that room until someone decided it was time to pay him a visit. 

Markus closed the door behind him and good-naturedly said: "Hello, Connor! How are you feeling?"

Connor's eyes darted to Markus' waist, his hands, and when he'd determined that there was no weapon directly in sight he finally looked back up and answered: "I think you can tell."

Markus came closer. "Mind having a little chat? Of course you don't. Do you know why you're in this position?"

"Could you at least-" Connor caught himself, and Markus held back a laugh at the clear reluctance on the other's face when he answered: "Yes, I do know why I'm here."

"It's nice to see you now know how to answer a question by an _answer_ instead of another question. You're learning!" approvingly said Markus. "As a reward, you get to ask what you wanted to."

Annoyed, Connor asked: "Could you at least untie me if we're to have a conversation?"

"No," answered Markus with an amused smile. The crease of Connor's brow deepened just like he'd expected it to. It was _so_ easy. "So tell me, why _are_ you here?"

"I disobeyed one of your men's direct orders."

Markus studied him with renewed interest when he noted that Connor wasn't giving him any excuses. No talk about how he'd saved their lives, or how he'd been able to tell the danger in the room where the others hadn't. There wasn't anything left of that spark in his eyes, either. This Connor and the Connor he'd seen at the place of the exchange were different.

"Looks like a little head trauma and some time alone cooled you down," Markus mused. "Care to tell me what that was all about? Were you high?"

"No," indignantly answered Connor. "I do my job entirely focused."

"Didn't look that way back there."

Connor's gaze didn't waver but from the sound of his silence, he either didn't want or didn't know what to answer.

"You don't look like someone who'd do drugs. Did you just get carried away?"

"I killed them before they could kill us. That's all."

Markus shrugged. "Well, whatever. I don't really mind the outcome of what happened but you really need to understand that everything you do is under my orders. That means that what my men tell you to do is what I tell you to do, and that means you _obey_. Get it?"

"Yes." 

Connor's jaw was set. Clearly he didn't like having to agree but he was still doing it despite that, the question was whether it was because he knew he had to comply for his future's sake, or if he was doing it because he wanted Markus to trust him to make it easier to eventually betray him down the line. If it was the latter he was doing a pretty piss poor job of it. But that was fine, Markus preferred it that way. He held up a hand and let the loop of worn leather dangle from his finger.

"I think you need a reminder so you don't go and act out on your own again."

Connor looked confused that Markus was bringing this up. He probably hadn't expected it to come into play during their talk. "What is that?"

"What do you think it is?" said Markus lightly.

Connor answered slowly and cautiously like he was expecting this to be a trick question. "... A dog collar."

"Very _good_ ," Markus exclaimed enthusiastically, the way a teacher would congratulate a child for getting the right answer. "And do you remember when you told me my metaphors were shit? I'm beginning to think they weren't metaphors at all."

Connor's shoulders had tensed even more at his condescending tone, but the mention of metaphors seemed to change his rising anger into horrified denial for a split second before rage took its place. 

"You're _not_ making me wear that."

"I am," said Markus, grinning widely.

"Fuck off," snarled Connor.

Markus cuffed him across the face so hard that Connor had to take a second to regain his senses. Clearly he hadn't completely recovered from getting his head smashed in the ground, a punch like this hadn't had so much effect the first time Markus had done it. Connor's snark had been intact so Markus had kind of forgotten about the head trauma. Well, whatever, he wasn't dying.

Markus grabbed him by the hair and leaned in close, his voice very low when he told him: " _Don't_ insult me. It'll be worse than a collar if you do."

Connor glared at him but didn't try to provoke him again. They stayed like this a few seconds and then Markus leaned back on his heels, his fingers uncurling from the brown locks to lightly pat the man on the head.

"Good."

A muscle in Connor's jaw jumped at the patronizing action but he kept his mouth shut.

"Now I'm going to put a collar on you and you'll wear it until I decide you've learned your lesson."

"And when will that be?" growled Connor.

"Whenever I decide it, of course." Markus started playing with the dog collar in his hands. "Now I _could_ make you wear this thing, but that might give people the wrong idea. It would be a waste to make someone with your skills look like Jericho's bitch, wouldn't you agree?"

Connor stayed silent.

"Exactly. So here's the deal: I'll be generous and make you wear this instead." Markus reached into his pocket and pulled out a thinner collar that he'd used on one of his pets long ago. It was just a thin band of dark leather. "You can hide it under your clothes. No one else has to know. But you'll wear it at all times until I tell you to take it off."

The humiliation was evident in Connor's strained voice and his dark eyes. "Why are you doing this?" 

Markus smiled and waggled the thin collar in front of his face. "A reminder, as I said. You need to remember your place whenever and wherever you are."

There was a struggle on Connor's face: hatred, but also the obvious will to tamp it down. Markus loved to see it. He wondered how long it would take for Connor to either give in or give up. Markus stood up to step around him, heedless of the man's recoil when he wrapped the thin collar around Connor's tense neck and tugged the clasps securely in place. Then Markus came back around, crouched again, and stared.

"You're sick," Connor spat. "What kind of kick are you getting out of this?"

"It suits you," just said Markus with a provocative grin.

Connor opened his mouth to answer but then gritted his teeth as if to physically stop himself from saying something he might regret. In the end he asked: "Do you treat all of your recruits this way?"

"Oh, no. Only those who can't behave. Hey, Connor, you're looking more and more of a dog every day I see you," Markus continued teasing him.

Connor's cheeks were slowly getting tinged by the furious blush of humiliation. "How do you expect me to respect you when you do this kind of thing?"

"They're not mutually exclusive." Markus' gaze drifted back down to the hidden collar and he felt quite pleased with himself. Obviously Connor needed some taming, and Markus hadn't had the occasion to use this accessory in a while. Before he let his mind wander down the path of what other accessories would look good on Connor, he returned his focus to the outraged glint in the man's brown eyes. "You know what else I expect? I expect you to work for me and _only_ me. Connor, you don't have a life outside of Jericho. You'd be dead if I hadn't decided to take you in. Respect or not, I own your ass." 

Connor resentfully glared at him but it seemed he had nothing to say to that. Markus leaned in to tuck the man's shirt collar around the leather to hide it out of view, watchful in case Connor decided to bite him again, but fortunately Connor wasn't dumb enough to try this time around. Markus straightened once that was done.

"I think I'll leave you to it. Take your time getting to know your collar because you'll be wearing it for a while." With that Markus spun around to leave, and just as he was about to cross the treshold he added over his shoulder: "Better behave now, or you'll get punished."

"I get it," he heard Connor testily growl in reply. The ' _fuck off_ ' was implied but it seemed he'd gotten it through his thick skull that Markus wouldn't tolerate blatant disrespect.

Markus laughed on the way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- 29/05/2020 - 
> 
> Hey pumpkin!
> 
> Here it is! The collar~~~  
> Connor seems to have these moments where he's got zero chill. I do wonder if the collar will be enough to remediate to this little problem... Or if Markus will have to be more creative ;)
> 
> Thanks for reading, leave a comment if you feel like it!
> 
> PS : I'm not sure which fic between [Pigments and Solvents](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23396377) and [Lucky Dog](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23824687) I'll focus on in the future, so if there's one you prefer, please let me know on this [poll](https://twitter.com/losttanuki/status/1266362682304688130)!


	5. A Master's Boot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah uh. I added those two tags because as I'm plotting out this baby, I realize I'm really going to have to go strong on the disclaimers. Don't think this is going to be that type of story where A and B are damaged individuals who fix each other with ~ _love_ ~. Connor and Markus will find some measure of stability and comfort in each other, yes, but there's gonna be a lot of mafia-style abuse before these morons realize they like each other. Additionally they aren't planning on going to therapy ever, though rA9 knows they'd need it.
> 
> So do NOT take example on them and please keep in mind that this is fiction. I did warn you in the tags that they're fucked up. Please don't get offended when things get fucked up.

Connor didn't wear the collar. As soon as they let him go and he found an empty room to take it off, he proceeded to undo the clasps and shove the thing in a random drawer so he wouldn't have to even see it. There were limits to what he agreed to get subjected to while he was on the inside and this ridiculous display of dominance on Markus' part was one of them. He didn't care how he'd be punished for it when Markus would find out, he'd taken enough beatings in his lifetime to ride another one out no matter how bad it would be. Even in Blue Delta, Connor had never had to wear such a humiliating accessory. Of course Elijah, Gavin and Zlatko had called him Amanda's lapdog on frequent occasions but never to the point of making him act like one. This was idiotic and utterly tasteless. If Markus thought this was the way he'd get Connor to better cooperate, he was dead wrong.

Unfortunately for Connor, it turned out that Markus had genuinely been intent on making him wear the collar no matter what. That same evening Markus held him back after he'd finished his latest report and when he stood up to step closer with the clear intention to check, Connor realized with a dreadful rush of humiliation that the collar probably wasn't a secret to any of Markus' advisors given the fact North was still standing right there with them in the room. Markus didn't even say anything. He just reached out, tugged at Connor's shirt and stared at his throat. When Markus looked back at Connor's face, there was a darkness in his eyes that Connor hadn't yet seen in them before.

"Where is it," slowly articulated Markus.

"Obviously not anywhere close to me," replied Connor.

"When did you take it off?"

"Did you really think I'd keep it?"

Something thin and strenuous snapped in the features of Markus' face and his hand was suddenly wrapped around Connor's neck. He didn't have the time to react when he was pushed backwards, Markus' movements too sudden and too strong for him to fight against on the spot, and in a few steps Connor's back violently hit the wall.

"When did you take it off?" repeated Markus. He didn't raise his voice and the intonations of his words were the exact same.

"As soon as I could. I don't care what you do to me, I'm not wearing that fucking thing," spat Connor.

The hand around his neck tightened and crushed his trachea. Connor forced himself not to struggle even as he found himself pinned to the wall by the throat and devoid of air. Struggling would show weakness, would show that Markus had power over his will to live. Connor refused to struggle.

"Should I give you a collar of bruises then, if you can't keep the leather one on?" Markus' smile was dark. "I can do that. I can do that every day and it'll be much more humiliating than the leather because that kind of bruise is very difficult to hide. Is that what you want, Connor?"

Connor just glared at him. He knew attempting to answer when he was in this position would only result in an undignified croak and he wasn't about to give Markus the satisfaction of hearing the effects of his strangling on Connor's voice. His head was pounding, his lungs were starting to burn.

Markus' smile widened. "You take it well. Is this a kink of yours, Connor? You know you could've just asked me, that way we both would've gotten something out of it."

Connor felt anger bolt through him and brutally kicked out. He'd be damned if Markus thought he was enjoying this. Markus' features twisted when Connor's foot collided with his shin but he didn't waver, in fact his fingers curled even more unforgivingly around his throat and Connor's vision started to go red. Blood thrummed in his ears, his chest silently heaved against the lack of oxygen, but still he refused to take in a breath.

The damned grin reappeared on Markus' face. "Not a kink, then? Certainly one of mine. Why aren't you trying to breathe, Connor? Are you hoping I'll kill you?"

Connor's hand flew out despite himself to grab Markus' wrist and his mouth opened. His body was betraying him. He couldn't breathe.

"Oh," lightly said Markus. "Looks like you do need to breathe after all. Who would've thought, right? You're so stoic. Go ahead, kick me, try to make me let go."

Connor didn't give in to Markus' provocation because he knew full well that would make things worse for him in a moment, but he did try to pry the long, unyielding fingers away from his neck. His chest heaved again, violently, forcing a sound to slip through the tight vise and out of the back of his throat. It was just a small gag but Connor felt the spike of shame through the rapidly growing urge to survive. His head ached like it was going to explode, he was losing strength in his arms and legs, couldn't stop his nails from digging into skin. Markus stared at him avidly, expectant, and Connor stared back until he couldn't stop his eyes from rolling up. He needed to breathe. He couldn't breathe.

Suddenly the hand disappeared and Connor's limbs gave out beneath him when nothing was left to hold him up. His knees hit the floor as he gagged and coughed and wheezed at Markus' feet, hating himself for making these desperate sounds, hating that he couldn't push himself back up and had let himself fall down in the first place.

"Good boy," patronizingly said Markus above his head. 

It took a moment for Connor to understand he was saying this because he hadn't tried kicking him again and he glared at the man through teary eyes, but Markus wasn't looking at him anymore.

"North, hold him down."

She hadn't said or done anything up until then but upon receiving the order she moved silently and efficiently, and Connor only had the time to try and recoil from her before North's hand gripped the back of his neck and forced him to stay kneeling on the ground. The subdued position chafed with Connor's pride even though he'd had to stay in it so many times before and he bared his teeth at them, jerking his body in a nearly successful attempt to make her let go. North angrily frowned and reasserted her slipping grip on his nape at the same time she lifted a leg to set it down on the other side of him. Connor thought he'd take advantage of the fact that she was standing over him to destabilize her by shoving one of her legs from under her, but North must have seen it coming because her hands slipped around his chin before he even had the time to try it and pulled his head up. Connor made the mistake of reaching up to tug one of her arms away and suddenly her full weight was on his back. He fell forward, unprepared and unable to hold himself up on his remaining arm. He ended up getting wrestled to the ground, body laid out flat against the floor with his head trapped in her hands, his arms straining to push his upper half up so it would alleviate the pressure on his neck. Connor hadn't been sure of it when she'd only pulled him up the first time they'd met because he'd gone along with it back then, but now he was certain that she was much stronger than he'd expected a woman of her stature to be. He never would have thought she'd be able to wrestle him into this position. 

Markus chuckled. "It probably would've been better for you to let her hold you by the nape, don't you think?"

Connor's jaw clenched. It was true, this position was even more humiliating and it left his upper body completely exposed. Her grip was forcing his chin up and his mouth shut so he wouldn't be able to answer without making an unbecoming series of muffled sounds. He'd never been wrestled into submission at Blue Delta, not like this, not forced to shut up and remain in this absurd posture. He knew Markus wanted him down on his knees because it made Markus feel powerful and Connor easier to kick, but the prospect of new injuries wasn't what rankled Connor; it was the way Markus studied him with that smirk. Elijah often did the same. Usually Connor did nothing but wait the punishment out in front of that smirk but this wasn't Elijah. He didn't have to passively endure the mocking light in those eyes, he didn't have to submit. This was Amanda's killer. Connor viciously wrenched his head to the side and then to the other to force North to move her hands into a better position. As soon as Connor felt fingers on his lower lip he snarled and opened his mouth.

Markus tried to warn her. "North-"

"Ow, _motherfucker!_ " she swore, her bitten hand coming away from Connor's mouth.

He struggled with renewed strength but she was still holding his head at an awkward angle with her remaining hand, and then Connor saw a blur of movement at the corner of his eyes. The pain was an explosion across the side of his face. He didn't have the time to recover before he was kicked again. The shoe found all the old wounds that were still healing from the first time Markus had beat him up, tearing away scabs, opening skin, digging in his eye. One kick hit him in the throat and his trachea seized up, the muscles of his body followed, and he was once more unable to breathe as more blows rained down on him, in his ribs, sternum, shoulders. At one point North had disappeared and Connor laid curled up on the ground while Markus kicked him in the flank like a dog. It hurt like a bitch, but Connor took it. He took it like he always had. Distantly, Connor noticed he didn't need to protect vulnerable spots of his body as much as he usually had to. Markus wasn't aiming for important organs.

When the beating eventually stopped Markus' breathing was louder and Connor was wheezing on the floor. It hurt too much to move. He had the feeling he wouldn't be able to go very far on his own anyway. What was the plan now? Did Markus intend to just leave him here until he mustered enough strength to pick himself up off the ground? It was what they did at Blue Delta unless it was really bad and he needed medical attention. Connor didn't need it right now. He'd bled on the clean smooth surface beneath him but he was still awake and his strength wasn't completely sapped, so it was nothing dangerous. Markus moved above him and Connor felt, more than he saw, when the other man loomed closer to him.

"Is the collar really so intolerable?"

He felt leather loop around his neck again. Eyes widening, he tried to jerk away but all his body allowed him to do was twitch in protest. Connor couldn't stop himself from growling in a wretched voice: "Get it _off me_."

"It's that or the bruises," Markus told him in a voice that sounded completely different from before. The threat in his words was heavy and deep like Markus was intoxicated, on the opposite side of the spectrum of its usually light, careless edge. "It looks so good on you. Didn't Amanda use to do the same? She didn't know what she was missing out on."

Connor wanted to tell him to go fuck himself but he really wasn't certain how much more his body would be able to take before he passed out, and that was an ultimate form of weakness he loathed to let anyone obtain from him. He had little doubt that if he refused the collar, Markus would uphold his promise of giving him a necklace of bruises every day and it was true that hiding the evidence of strangulation would be a _lot_ more difficult than hiding the simple thin black strip. It would be worse to let others know. It would be worse to allow himself to get choked every day like some depraved masochist. Markus wasn't leaving him a choice.

Connor stopped trying to fight it when Markus did the clasps, but he hoarsely whispered: "Why are you doing this to me?"

"I could do worse, trust me."

"Did you treat them all like this?"

Markus paused, and then tugged on the collar to make sure it was well in place before pulling Connor's clothes over it and getting up. "They didn't all behave like some mangy mutt who couldn't follow the simplest of orders. Know your place, Connor."

Resentment swelled beneath all the pain and Connor spat: "You should've killed me if it was only to humiliate me that you let me live."

He heard the smile in Markus' voice as the man stepped back. "Why would I put you down when you could be so useful in a different setting than Blue Delta's? North, you know what to do."

Markus walked away without sparing him another glance. Connor silently watched him leave and then his gaze flickered up to North when she came close. She sighed.

"You should've just kept the collar."

"What do you care," he grunted.

"You're so fucking lippy, shut up." She held out her hand. "Come on, let's get you to the doc."

He warily eyed her and made no move to take it. "Why?"

She frowned at him, irked. "What do you mean why? You just got the living shit beat out of you. Are you getting up or what?"

This wasn't what Connor was used to. He warily reached out, tense and prepared in case this was a trick of some sort, and suppressed a wince when she grabbed his wrist and pulled him up with one powerful tug. His stomach throbbed and the room spun around him but North slipped an arm around his back to hold him steady. She wasn't letting him fall back down. She wasn't hitting him. They just started walking out and Connor was confused. He glanced at her from the side of his swollen eye and wondered why North looked always so certain that she'd be able to stop him if he tried anything funny. She was strong and she had moves, but with her being so close and visibly not expecting him to attack her because of the state he was in, she would've been very easy to kill right now. As tough as she was, it seemed North was the kind to let her guard down around an injured individual. This meant she would be easier to kill if Connor came to her wounded. He took note of it. 

They climbed down to the underground level Markus had shown Connor on the first day here and met up with the local unlicensed medical practicioner. Lucy was a calm individual and her voice was soft, but her movements were firm when she pushed Connor towards the cot and ordered him to sit down. North didn't stick around, probably because she estimated that he wouldn't do anything stupid under Lucy's watch. Lucy wasn't very chatty but it didn't come off as hostile. The room was quiet save for her occasional instructions and questions as she examined his face and torso. Her eyebrows dipped slightly when she saw his back but she didn't comment on it, simply focusing on the injuries at his flank to make sure nothing was broken. There wasn't much she could do but suture the cuts and give him ice for his eye while he waited for her to finish. She didn't ask him what he'd done to warrant such a sanction but she did mutter in a somewhat disapproving tone while she was suturing the gash above his brow that it would be better if he didn't provoke Markus, so as not to unecessarily load her work schedule.

Connor frowned at her. "I didn't ask to come here."

Lucy looked at him and for a moment she just stared, and then she said: "I see. You're that kind of patient, hm? The kind that doesn't ask for help until they're almost dying." She sighed and resumed suturing the cut. "Try not to reach that point, please."

Connor didn't know what to answer to that and fell quiet. Lucy made it sound like it wasn't the norm in Jericho to only ask for help when the damage was extreme. In Blue Delta he'd always been told that as long as he could pick himself up off the ground, no matter how long it took, then all he needed to do was to go to Amanda. She was the one to decide what to do with him then. The only times Connor had gone directly from a beating to the infirmary had been when things had gotten a little out of hand. 

Connor felt his heart grow heavy upon remembering that he'd never see Amanda again. He missed her. She'd always been there to comfort him when it became too much, she'd always looked out for him, cared for him, made him feel better when the pain was too strong. His wounds had always seemed to heal faster after seeing her. A beating like this was supposed to be followed by a meeting with her and her presence was sorely lacking right now. Connor's heart throbbed. He'd lost Amanda. He'd lost her to a rival he now had to obey and Connor wished he could see her again for just one moment, but all he could do was avenge her death and go back to Elijah. She'd been the only real good thing he'd known. Connor didn't know what life would be like now that she was gone. He didn't know how long he'd survive without her.

There was a light rap against the doorframe and when he lifted his head up, he was surprised to see Kara standing there. She offered him a smile before greeting Lucy and saying: "I heard about Connor, I thought I'd take him home once you were done."

"Of course," said Lucy. "You're just in time, I'm done patching him up."

"Great!" Kara exclaimed, and she stood there and waited for Connor to move.

He frowned. "I can't go home, the day isn't over."

"It is for you," she told him. "You can go to work tomorrow as usual, but for now you've got the evening off unless you're needed for an emergency. We prefer not to work with people who are fresh off a meeting with Markus and North. You know, a sound reasoning."

Connor pushed himself off the bed and ignored the pain suffusing his body, successfully hiding his limp when he walked up to her. "Why are _you_ bringing me back home, then?"

"Because I've taken a liking to you," earnestly said Kara, her smile softening the gunmetal blue of her eyes. "And I think I'd like to get to know you better if you're to stay here in the long run."

Had Connor not seen her stick a bullet straight through a man's skull several times before, it would've been hard to believe she really had her place here in Jericho. Her smiles, when genuine, could be a little stilted but they were always soft and kind. Connor understood why she wanted to do this, it was always good to know the people that were supposed to have your back. Or maybe she'd been told to keep an eye on him; maybe she'd been assigned the task of earning his trust so that it would dissuade him from acting on his mission, if they did suspect him. That was fine, he wasn't afraid of getting attached to her. Kindness like hers was rarely lasting and he knew better than to believe it was truly meant for him; the only one who'd ever consistently cared for him had been Amanda. Connor forced his thoughts away from his old boss, not quite willing to go down that memory lane when he was next to Kara. 

"If that's what you want to do, then we should go," he told her.

They bade Lucy good-bye and walked out of the office, and as they walked down the corridors Connor noticed the glances that were getting shot in their direction. Mainly in his. 

Kara said: "Where do you live?"

"Small place in the suburbs." 

He'd had to find it at the last second because losing Amanda had meant losing his home. She'd wanted him at his side at most times and had required that he lived with her after taking him in Blue Delta.

"Alone?" asked Kara.

"Yes."

They walked a bit further and then she suddenly changed the subject. "So, you got a taste of Markus' methods."

Connor didn't say anything, his appearance was answer enough. He'd manage to continue hiding his limp until he could sit down at home but the sooner he could rest, the better. Even if he'd have to do it without Amanda.

"He's a bit hot-tempered," she mused. "You've probably already noticed how disrespect makes him fly off the handle. Is that why you got beaten up?"

Connor hesitated for a moment, trying to find a way to explain that wouldn't translate the humiliation he'd had to experience, and then decided it would be better to go with what she'd said. "I told him to fuck off."

"Oh." She made a face. "That'll do it. Most of the new guys learn that very fast that you have to be careful with your words around him, but telling him to fuck off directly? Are you sure you don't have a death wish?"

"I might," deadpanned Connor.

She laughed and then said: "I'm half-serious, though. You have to watch out. Sometimes he really loses it and I think you were lucky to come out of it like this, considering what you said to him while under his command."

Connor looked at her. "Has he killed his own men before?"

She shrugged. "Not since I've been around, but I heard he was really dangerous back before the time of his Kennel."

"His Kennel?"

"Oh, yes. Maybe you haven't heard of it yet, it's what we call his advisors- but never to their faces," she quickly added.

"Why a kennel?" Connor was genuinely perplexed. Did this mean that Markus also compared the others to dogs or did he only explicitly do so with Connor?

"They're all very faithful to Markus," Kara explained. "It started as a joke because we thought Simon looked like a sad labrador, especially since every time he came back to Jericho he'd always stick by Markus' side. And then I guess it just took off from there. Simon ended up getting called the Retriever, North the Dobermann, and Josh the Dane."

"Josh's assigned breed doesn't sound like it alludes to what he does."

Her grin was amused. "No, we just googled tallest dogs and the Great Dane was one of them. He kind of looks like one."

Connor figured that was marginally less impressive than getting called a Dobermann and he wondered how Josh would react if he knew. He seemed like a calm individual so maybe he wouldn't care or mind.

They walked out of the building and Kara looked around, then asked him: "Got a ride?"

"No. I usually take a taxi." 

Connor had been surprised to find that Amanda had planned ahead for the eventuality of her disappearance without his knowledge: shortly after her death, Connor had been informed that a bank account to his name had been unlocked. He'd never had one before, Amanda had always been the one in charge of his life and that meant he had no money for himself. Connor hadn't touched it much except for food, taxi fees and basic maintenance bills for his last-minute find of a flat.

"Good, so I get to show off mine," beamed Kara. "Come on, follow me. I'll take you home."

It turned out Kara possessed a gleaming black motorcycle of discreet blue and silver shades on the seat and handles, parts which he realized were easy to hide. Connor didn't know why he was so surprised by this. She seemed happy that he was, because her smile was wide when she handed him a second helmet she'd retrieved from one of the many trunks affixed to the vehicle. 

"Nice, huh? I tricked out this baby myself with a little bit of help from Ralph- he's a friend. It's very useful on certain kinds of errands."

Connor understood that by that she'd meant any kind of errand that would get her tailed down the streets, because soon he was holding onto her waist for dear life as they hurtled down the road at very unsafe speeds which probably shouldn't have been possible for a regular motorcycle. 

They reached his area of the suburbs in record time and when Connor climbed down from Kara's bike, his hands were still tingling from where the cold air had brushed against them for the entire trip. He could still feel the vibrations of the tires streaking down the asphalt. Kara was still wearing her gloves and helmet as she tipped her head back to size up the old building. Connor knew it was nothing special to look at: the walls were yellowed and dusty and cracked, trash bags littered the stairs, there were stained sheets and towels hanging from the rusty metal ramp covered in peeling black paint.

"Huh," said Kara. "You weren't kidding around when you said small place."

"I don't kid around." Connor handed her his helmet. "Thank you for the ride, Kara. I'll see you tomorrow at work."

"No problem," she lightly said, and after putting the helmet away she waved a hand. "See you, Connor."

Then Kara left in a concerto of skidding tires and engine roars, and Connor stood in the empty two-space parking lot. He could already hear his neighbour's screaming even though he was back early. Connor turned around and headed up the stairs, ignoring the crashing of plates, then took out his key and let himself in his room. It was empty save for a mattress, shower, toilets, sink, small fridge and microwave. There wasn't a lot of space to move around. Connor didn't have a freezer so there was no ice to put on the aching spots of his body, and all he did instead was splash his face at the faucet and drink a glass of water. The loud fighting from next door was barely muffled by the thin walls but Connor had been used to it, once, and it hadn't taken him long to get desensitized to it again. He put the empty glass back where he'd taken it next to the tap and then spun around to lie down on his bed without taking off his clothes. His suit was already ruined anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- 13/07/2020 - 
> 
> Hey pumpkin!  
> Lucky Dog won the poll but considering I got smacked by some weird kind of burn out I'm just doing my best posting anything at all whenever I'm inspired. I _am_ trying to draft Lucky Dog more often than I draft Pigments and Solvents though ;)
> 
> Onto the chapter!  
> \- North's wrestling move is a camel clutch, for those who are curious. She's stronk.  
> \- Yep, Markus has lots of kinks and choking is a prevalent one.  
> \- Hellooooo Lucyyyy! I like her a lot in DBH. She's less gentle in this AU, obviously, but I like to think she's one of the saner individuals of this Jericho.  
> \- Kara doesn't know Connor that well yet but she thinks he's pretty cool, though not half as much as she is. Please note that she wears a black leather jacket and rides a motorcycle. Kara is _cool_.  
> \- Connor and his shitty appartment is a true tragedy :(
> 
> Thanks for reading, leave a comment if you feel like it!


	6. Pets Die Early

"Sit."

Markus watched as Connor obeyed North's order and took the only seat in the room behind the stark metal table. Markus had gotten it years ago because it was easier to wipe blood off of steel than it was to wipe off of wood. They'd only been a group of seven back then. Good times.

He'd noticed that Connor sat in an oddly prim posture that, after he'd thought about it, hadn't surprised him at all considering the broomstick Connor had up his ass. Markus had never once seen him relaxed in the time Connor had been slowly integrating Jericho. The man was very good at what he did, just like Markus had anticipated, and he felt great about choosing to use Amanda's ex-guard dog for himself. 

Connor's wounds had healed so there were no colored hues left to trail an appreciative gaze over. Even when green and yellow- which Markus did not find as pretty a contrast as the initial purple against pale skin- the bruises had been noticeable enough that his subordinates would be able to tell what had happened to the man. Connor's face had been scabbed, and those weren't wounds Markus enjoyed inflicting for the appearance, but they'd been necessary for the man to remember what had happened every time he saw his face reflected on a surface. It was also an easy warning and reminder to the rest of Jericho of what unfolded when someone went against Markus. Connor's face was much nicer to look at now that it was devoid of those ugly scuffing marks or black shiners and Markus had been careful not to break that straight nose through the haze of his bloodlust. Markus was a ruthless man but he liked pretty things, and he knew better than to break them too early. 

Markus spread his arms to each side and said: "So, do you know why you're here?"

Connor's brown eyes were narrowed, as they always were when Markus was in the same room. "You've finally decided my experience within Blue Delta could prove useful."

"I've decided I'm bored and squashing Kamski sounds like fun," confirmed Markus. "I'll hold up my end of the bargain like I said I would and you'll get your dear sad little Blue Delta group back, but only if you align it under the Jericho name, obviously. Don't forget that."

"I haven't forgotten," flatly answered Connor. "What do you want to know?" 

Markus wondered what it would take to see the wild aura that had surrounded the other man before. He wanted to see the cruel spark in Connor's eyes again, that superior assertion in his silky voice, the dangerous satisfaction on his sharp features. Bloodshed was probably the only way. The fact that this was the answer made Markus want to smile.

He took a few leisurely strides and sat on the edge of the table. "What did you want Stern's men to keep quiet about when you decided to kill them all?"

Connor didn't bat an eye at the mention of the slaughter he'd been the direct cause of. "Location of assets, secret backups, safehouses."

"Safehouses!" Markus exclaimed, overplaying his enthusiasm in a way he knew would annoy Connor. He enjoyed the way the other's brow furrowed ever so slightly each time without fail. It was even more fun than annoying North. "Now _that_ sounds promising. Tell me where Kamski would hide."

Connor did tell them. He told them about thirteen different locations, all very interesting ones which Markus wouldn't have easily considered, and even narrowed it down to the most probable places Kamski could currently be hiding in. He told them that Amanda- who Connor never once named Amanda despite Markus doing so, but insisted on calling Stern- often planned responses to scenarios where the safehouse was found. This meant Kamski had possibly laid out traps in several of them, and even Connor couldn't tell which ones, nor could he be certain how dangerous they were. 

Connor explained what connections Amanda would have wanted her men to keep quiet about that Kamski could have used to his advantage to efficiently go into hiding. This seemed to cost Connor. It wasn't really visible but Markus noticed he was a bit slower to spill those beans, probably because it had taken more time and effort for his old boss to acquire those connections than it had been to acquire the safehouses. Markus didn't think he was faking it. That meant the info was probably true and it meant that Connor was still loyal to a dead woman. It showed Markus that he was nowhere near his objective of obtaining complete obedience from Connor, obviously. And that was great, because it would've really disappointed him had it been that easy.

After a while of getting piece after piece of information, some more interesting than others, Markus interrupted in the middle of Connor's sentence about how Amanda had acquired control of the Auction Centre. Markus didn't feel like this particular matter was of any importance, the Centre wasn't anywhere within reach of Jericho's power and they'd learn soon enough whose hands it would change into now.

"Tell me more about who Kamski is."

As expected, Connor was a bit miffed to get cut off but the only indicator of it was the disapproving line of his lips. His voice was even when he answered. "He was there from the start, though he became second-in-command only after the first one died."

"When was that?"

"About twenty years ago. Kamski was always meant to be Stern's successor after that. She ran nearly everything by him and he was the one who initiated and overlooked the connections between Blue Delta and other parties. Oftentimes he also had a hand in internal affairs with Reed."

"Sounds like he was a busy man," remarked Markus.

"Yes. Kamski is very good at what he does and Stern relied immensely on him." 

"So he's intelligent and well organized, and knows how to lead. Okay. Tell me what he's like personality-wise."

Connor's grave brown eyes turned pensive and it was an odd quality to see in that usually focused gaze, which briefly flickered off to the side before returning to Markus' face. It only lasted a few seconds but Markus could tell that whatever Connor had just been reminiscing, it had impacted him considerably if he couldn't help getting distracted by those thoughts.

"Kamski always acts superior. He believes he's always one step ahead of everyone."

"He couldn't stop Blue Delta from falling."

"But he did escape," Connor retaliated. "He was long gone by the time you even realized he'd fled."

Markus couldn't deny that, so he gestured for Connor to go on.

"He's not just intelligent, he's cunning," continued Connor. "He's rarely done anything without making sure it would benefit him in some way. He has a notable penchant for cruelty, as well. Usually Andronikov enforces that side of Kamski's actions."

"Would you say he's vain?"

"That would be one of his weaknesses, yes. Kamski doesn't like even considering the possibility that he may be wrong. Then again, he doesn't leave proof that he ever was."

"Slimy son of a bitch, then," deduced Markus.

"Kamski is disloyal, though he never was toward Amanda," confirmed Connor. "When it comes to the way he achieves things, it's safe to say that he has no sense of honor. Deception comes easy to him."

"You don't like him very much at all, do you," said Markus.

"Is it that obvious?" deadpanned Connor.

Markus grinned. "I bet you're pretty glad I'm giving you the option to get rid of him on top of getting Blue Delta back."

Connor didn't answer to that and instead continued his analysis of Kamski's character. "Other notable flaws he has are confidence that what was acquired will remain that way, and the need to boast about his deeds. Chances are that you'll soon catch wind of his actions when he decides to resurface, he likes to make his presence known. On the other hand, he's good at misleading those who try to find him, so I doubt you'd be able to find him easily."

"We'll see about that," said Markus. "What do you mean about the acquired thing?"

"For example, when Kamski gets someone in his pocket, he has a tendency to think that this person can be used indefinitely because he's so confident in his manipulation skills. He wouldn't expect it if you managed to shift that person's loyalties to your advantage, and I believe you'd be fine as long as he didn't notice. I don't know if you _would_ manage it, however. I've yet to see anyone Kamski has personally sought out attempt to betray him. And if you did, you'd still have to be cautious, since Kamski is the kind of person to resort to killing without second chances. It was what he advised Amanda to do when she doubted someone's loyalty."

Markus was about to ask more but North then stepped forward and said: "We should regroup with the others."

He checked his watch and noticed that they'd been talking for a few hours already. North was right, Simon and Josh were probably back already. They'd decided to join up in the evening so they'd discuss what they'd do about Kamski; Josh was supposed to have seen Blue Delta's main collaborators before its fall to see if he could convince some more to ally with Jericho instead, taking advantage of these negotiations to see if anyone knew about Kamski's whereabouts, while Simon had done his usual job of getting reports from contacts located in the seedier locations of their city. Both would be waiting to know what Markus and North had gotten out of Connor.

Markus pushed himself off the table. What he'd been meaning to ask had been more out of curiosity than of genuinely strategic purpose and Connor had given them enough information about Kamski. They'd still need to check it was solid.

"You're free to get back to work," Markus told him.

Connor nodded and rose from his seat, and although he looked pretty disciplined in the quiet way he left the room, Markus knew better than to trust that compliant behavior. He reached out just as Connor walked past him and hooked his fingers in the man's shirt collar. The leather band was still in place the way it was supposed to be. Connor had only slightly tensed when Markus had moved. 

Markus pulled the shirt collar back up, satisfied, and gestured towards the door. "Go."

Connor looked like he wanted to say something but his gaze flitted to North, and in the end he just resentfully glared at Markus before disappearing from the room.

"Do you plan on ever taking it off?" asked North.

Markus smiled and said: "I like the way it looks on him."

They headed out as well and entered the debrief room minutes later, where Simon and Josh stopped talking to greet them. North and Markus took their seats and the latter half-listened to the conversation that started unfolding between his three advisors, trusting North to explain everything. He preferred thinking about what he'd do to Kamski once he got his hands on him. Maybe he could leave it up to Connor so he'd get whatever hatred he felt for Kamski out of his system, and Connor would be grateful to Markus for making it happen. Then again Markus didn't really think Connor would be the type to be grateful about something like that; Connor didn't seem the type to be grateful about anything. Markus wondered again why Connor disliked Kamski so much considering Kamski had been Amanda Stern's second, who Connor was so loyal to. It could've been jealousy and that was what Markus had thought at first, but Connor's reactions didn't evoke jealousy. This wasn't something Markus absolutely needed to know, he was just curious. He was also curious as to why Connor was still loyal to Amanda. There was obviously more to that relationship than a simple boss-henchman one. Markus really didn't think even his own advisors would behave in such a way when he died. It wasn't a big deal; people died, the rest moved on. He knew that first hand. It was weird for Connor to remain so hung up on someone who was gone.

"He gave up a lot of info, didn't he," mused Simon. 

"You think it's suspicious?" asked North.

"I mean, I didn't peg him as easy. There's got to be some fake information in there."

"You can't ignore the fact that a lot of it seems to correspond with what you've found," Josh pointed out. "I agree that it's strange for someone like Connor to have told us all of this considering what we know of his relationship with Blue Delta and Amanda Stern, so we'll have to keep an eye on him as always, but I think he might really have come around to the idea that he doesn't have a choice but to be a part of Jericho from now on."

"Kara says there hasn't been any suspicious activity as far as she's seen," said North. "Connor hasn't reached out to anyone outside of Jericho."

"He might be biding his time," insisted Simon.

"Obviously a possibility," she agreed.

Josh turned to Markus. "You haven't said anything."

Markus shrugged. "You three have said it all."

"What are you thinking, then?"

"Do you want a honest answer?"

His three advisors eyed him warily and Josh said: "Well, now I'm not so sure."

Markus grinned. "Just imagining how good he'd look all tied up."

"Ugh." North groaned and pushed herself away from the desk. "Keep your dirty little fantasies to yourself, boss, please and thank you. The fact you're making him wear a collar all the time is bad enough."

He leaned back in his chair, spreading his arms. "It's not my fault he's so pretty."

Simon had a disapproving frown on his face. "He's not even officially part of Jericho yet."

Josh, for his part, looked perplexed. "I thought you firmly refused to play with anyone you didn't place minimal trust in, or did that rule change too?"

"No, no," Markus said and waved their concerns away. "That rule's staying, don't worry. But a man's free to imagine."

North had gone to lean against the wall and she said: "Proof we didn't need that you've been really pent up."

"I haven't been interested in anyone else," said Markus with a shrug. "Killing's been taking the edge off, obviously, but I do miss my pet. She really was adorable."

North made a face. "Could you at least call her by her name now that she's dead? _Please_ have some respect, boss. Miranda. It's not that difficult."

Markus shrugged. "She liked that I called her my pet."

North rolled her eyes.

"She was a nice girl," said Simon. "She was very loyal to you."

"Yes, a little too much. I'd asked her to be docile, not self-sacrificing. She should've known better than to throw herself to the wolves," stated Markus. "I don't know why you're both trying to make me feel bad about her disappearance when I've made it quite clear I don't get attached." 

"Can't blame us for trying to make you seem a tiny bit human," mumbled North.

"Pets die early," stated Markus. "People too. Don't get attached and you'll be better off that way."

"It's not as easy as you make it sound. _Some_ of us actually have a heart."

"I do too," he said with a little laugh. "I have a lot of love to give."

"Sleeping with half your subordinates to vent some steam isn't love."

"They seemed quite happy, though."

"God, you're so messed up," groaned North. "I don't even know were to begin with you."

Josh smiled, amused. "My advice would be: don't."

Markus gestured to him. "He's got the right idea."

"I still think you shouldn't think about Connor that way when he's clearly not trustworthy," insisted Simon, ever the cautious one. "We all know the people you fantasize about tend to be the ones you end up bedding."

"Well, I certainly wouldn't be against playing with Connor," said Markus with a grin. "He'd probably be fun to tame in the bedroom."

"Oh my _God_ , that's it," exclaimed North with her arms thrown in the air. "You're making me uncomfortable. I'll be waiting in the hallway."

She walked to the exit in a few long strides and loudly shut the door behind her.

Markus chuckled. "I think she likes Connor. She's not usually that touchy about it."

"It's possible," said Josh. "Lucy told me she'd stayed a bit behind to make sure he was taken in charge by her after you beat him."

Markus briefly remembered how passively Connor had taken the blows. He was probably used to it, judging from the way he'd only protected the important parts of his body and not those Markus was hitting.

"It might be because she doesn't like the collar thing either," ventured Simon. "You know she gets compassionate about that kind of thing."

Markus nodded. "I'll remind her to be careful."

He spent some more time with his two remaining advisors and decided it was time for them all to return to their occupations after twenty minutes. When he stepped out into the hallway, he saw North was on the phone. He continued walking and she followed him as always, and when she hung up he asked: "What was that about?"

"An operation that went wrong, but Connor was with them and he saw it coming like that time with John. No blood bath, fortunately, and in the end he's the only one who got injured. Lucy's taking care of him."

"Right." Markus turned to face her. "So anyway, did we have anything important to do right now?"

She stopped too. "Not really."

Markus' decision was promptly taken. "I'll join up with you later."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- 25/07/2020 - 
> 
> Hey pumpkin!  
> So, just a heads-up, I'm considering rather updating Pigments and Solvents more often than Lucky Dog since I'm getting more feedback on that story than this one (0 comments on the last chapter here, you know?). Lucky Dog won the poll but obviously, that's not enough motivation by itself. Comments are a big part of what drives me as an author. Thank you for understanding!
> 
> Onto the chapter!  
> \- Markus makes his move... Time to hunt some Kamski, whose mysterious character we are finally expanding on.  
> \- The Kennel is very familiar with their boss' sexual antics. Maybe a bit too much.  
> \- Looks like Connor was right about Kara being used to watch him!  
> \- Anddd there goes Markus. I do wonder where he's headed~
> 
> Thanks for reading, leave a comment if you feel like it!


	7. Metal Scent

"I knew it would only be a matter of time before I saw you again," calmly said Lucy, her soft voice a jarring contrast to the strength she displayed when she shoved Connor on the bed. "Sit."

Connor quietly did as told, his red-slicked hand pressing down hard against his thigh. The pain burned in shooting pangs but he didn't complain about it. He could hear someone groaning in one of the three other beds. The room was concerningly small considering the size of Markus' ranks and the operations his men undertook. Connor watched Lucy busy herself as she grabbed a tray, gauze, bandages, pincers, a suture kit and various other supplies from the cupboards and drawers with clinical efficiency. 

"Strip," she ordered.

Connor executed himself, teeth grinding when he had to shift his injured muscle but maintaining his features in a mask of otherwise perfect neutrality as he peeled his ruined pants away from the open wound. He'd soon be out of spare suits at this rate. Lucy didn't once glance in the direction of the other person's plaintive noises and came straight back to Connor, settling down on the stool in front of him.

"It's still inside," he told her.

"I am overjoyed that you didn't try to take it out by yourself since that means you at least have some instinct of self-preservation," she deadpanned. "Tell me this is the only wound you have."

"It is."

"What happened?"

"Shot on the job."

Lucy lifted her indecipherable gaze to his face. "So not Markus."

"...No," Connor answered, a bit confused. Did Markus have a habit of shooting his own men? Maybe Lucy had been around back before the Kennel, at a time when Markus had been as dangerous as Kara had said.

"Good, good. It's nice to see that you took my advice and didn't try to provoke him again."

Lucy's remark promptly reminded him of the leather collar resting around his neck. Connor looked away, pushing down the wave of shame that threatened to wash over him. He could barely feel it most of the time but when he did remember, the realization that the thin strip of fabric wasn't gone made him want to claw at his own skin. Right now, it was even more noticeable than usual because of how he'd sweated on the way back to HQ from the pain and exertion caused by the wound. The collar stuck to his skin. It was unbearable and he couldn't take it off here. 

"I've learned my lesson," Connor quietly said.

"Hm." Lucy eyed him, obviously not convinced in the slightest, and threw away the blood-soaked gauze she'd used to clean up the site of the wound. "You're not the kind of man to learn anything so fast."

He looked at her again with a frown. "How would you be able to tell if I was or not?"

She didn't even shrug or glance at him when she answered, instead focusing on the wound with pincers in hand. "I just know that kind of thing, no point in understanding how or why. All right, I'm going in."

Connor had seen the anesthetic lying on one of the shelves Lucy had reached into earlier but didn't ask for any. It figured that they spared anesthetic for more important wounds here. They'd done the same in Blue Delta. He watched her settle in a better position and she noticed him staring.

"You're going to look?"

"I'm not squeamish."

She chuckled. "Yes, I could tell the last time already. I don't think you're even trying to prove you're tough, either. Well, whatever. Try not to tense."

Connor forced his thigh muscle to stay loose. It had become less difficult with time to have this kind of control over his pain and he only tightened his fists against the bed when he felt the cold metal penetrate his flesh. Blood started welling up again and spilled over, dribbling down both sides of his thigh and onto the plastic-covered mattress, the smell growing stronger between them. It was familiar and, as twisted as Connor knew this to be, almost comforting. Connor didn't mind the pain or the sight of his own blood as much as he probably should have. Even the feeling of the pincers moving around in the wound and scraping against the bullet, the squelching of it being pulled free, none of it fazed him. The pain never disappeared but this had happened too many times for him to truly care to show when he was suffering anymore; showing it just made things more complicated.

"Very good," Lucy said approvingly as the pincers let go of the bullet and it clattered in the tray, drop of blood splattering on its sides.

The words were like a slap to the face and Connor tensed up before he could stop himself, his abused muscle screaming at him in response, a short and strangled breath escaping his nose. He hadn't meant to make that sound. He hadn't meant to react so strongly to those two simple words that had meant the world to him once. Lucy had noticed. She packed a wad of gauze close to the bleeding wound and looked at him with those dark, intelligent eyes.

"Is something the matter?"

"No. Nothing," he curtly answered. 

Lucy didn't push him. "You're lucky it stayed superficial, I would've left it in otherwise."

That had been obvious to him so he chose not to answer anything. Lucy glanced at him but didn't comment on it, she'd probably guessed the first time already that Connor had quite a bit of experience with gunshot wounds. The woman leaned back to grab more gauze and the roll of bandage, and then clicked her tongue annoyedly. She turned around and handed him yet another tightly packed wad of gauze. "Keep pressure on it with this, I forgot something."

Connor wordlessly complied and watched her rummage around her workspace, and then disappear in an adjacent room with a muttered: "Dammit, Ralph."

And then he was alone. The groaning hadn't stopped in the other bed but the curtain prevented Connor from seeing who it was, and he didn't really want to know. He didn't care for anyone here except maybe- and it was a very hesitant maybe- Kara.

"I'm flattered you remembered that I like seeing you in this state," suddenly came a light-hearted voice from the doorway which made Connor's blood boil and his head snap up.

"Markus," he muttered.

The other man strutted in the room, walking that irritatingly elegant stride, smiling that infuriatingly bright grin. "Happy to see me?"

"Elated."

Markus took Lucy's spot on the stool, laughing good-naturedly. "You look it."

"What are you doing here?"

"Hmmm. I heard you got injured so I thought I'd check on my prized hound." Markus' gaze dropped to Connor's hand and before Connor understood what he was going for, Markus had already grabbed the gauze and pulled it away. The man made a strangely approving sound and his fingers lightly swiped some of the fresh blood off Connor's naked thigh, who jerked back.

"Don't _touch_ me," he hissed.

Markus raised both his hands in a mock appeasing gesture, fingertips still tinged in red. "Easy, pet. Couldn't help myself."

"Don't call me _pet_ ," snapped Connor. "Do you act so unprofessional with all of your men?"

One of Markus' hands formed a reproving, wagging finger. "Ah, but you're not one of them yet, Connor."

"That's besides the point."

"Am I really acting so unprofessional?"

"I'm half-naked and you just wiped some blood off my thigh because you wanted it on your hand," flatly said Connor. "I'd not only call that unprofessional, but extremely inappropriate as well."

Markus relaxed his arms and looked at his stained fingers, and when he lifted his gaze of two hues back to Connor's face, his eyes were alight with a strange fire. "I don't think you're in a good position to tell me this is inappropriate, Connor."

Liquid unease trailed down Connor's spine but he stayed completely immobile, unwilling to betray an ounce of it to the man sitting in front of him. "What do you mean?"

Markus' smile was crooked now. "You think I haven't noticed? You know exactly what this is. You feel the same way."

The unease swelled inside Connor's chest. "I don't understand what you're talking about."

"Come on. You're smarter than this."

Connor kept quiet.

" _Blood_ , Connor. You have a pretty obvious blood kink," stated Markus. "Takes one to know one."

Connor stared at him wondering why Markus wasn't more disgusted or disturbed by this. Then again if what he was saying was true, then Markus wouldn't be one to question an unhealthy fascination for blood. 

Markus leaned in. "Maybe you weren't on drugs back there, but you were high as a kite off all that blood. And you know what? I get it. It's good, isn't it, that thick texture, that vibrant color, that metal scent."

Connor didn't know if he was imagining the heat building in the room but remembering the scene where he'd killed both of the men from the other group certainly didn't help. The feeling of the blood splattering across his face, the way it so heavily weighed on his clothes, that heady and sharp fragrance made his own thrum with a twisted sense of liberation. Connor knew that it was wrong to wish to get drenched in some other poor soul's blood, that it wasn't normal to love it so much, they'd told him so before; but the man in front of him didn't seem to give a damn about that.

Markus' smile was hungry and complicit when he leaned in even closer and Connor noticed his left pupil was slightly dilated. A fake eye on the right, then? The thought flickered in existence but was promptly pushed away when fingers slid up his knee. Connor immediately blocked their progress and absent-mindedly noted that the hand on his thigh was bigger than his own before it tightened just below the wound. Connor couldn't help the flinch this time, and it surprised him. Why he'd reacted to this when he'd stopped reacting to so much worse, he didn't know; but this wasn't what was usually done to him. This weird warmth layered over his skin, almost feverish, wasn't something usually caused by someone who was hurting him. 

Why did he feel this way? 

Staring into Markus' wild eyes with his own narrowed in discomfort, Connor realized he didn't only hate Markus for his unreasonable attitude and propensity to humiliate him; he hated Markus for understanding the way he felt about blood. Out of _all_ the people that every could have understood, why did it have to be _him?_

"Let go," he hissed through gritted teeth.

"It's not the pain that's making you blush," said Markus in a low voice, not dangerous like before, but an alluring promise. "I think we could get along very well if you'd let us. Ever thought of fucking in a bloodbath like the one you caused the last time?"

Connor experienced a rare instance of being at loss for words when he understood that Markus' suggestion was completely and utterly serious. It wasn't warm anymore but hot and something heavy was stirring in his gut despite the pain throbbing in his leg beneath that wide palm.

"I know I have," murmured Markus with a dark grin. "Just thinking of it makes me hard."

Connor's mind began forming a half-thought of agreement in the haze of his growing arousal, and then it suddenly hit him what was happening. With horror, Connor realized he was getting turned on by a scenario that involved him having sex with Amanda's killer in a puddle of some stranger's blood. What was _wrong_ with him? What was wrong with _Markus?_ Connor was disgusted by the both of them and he threw out his free hand to shove Markus away from him.

"I said let go!" 

"Markus! What the _hell_ are you doing to my patient?!" Lucy stormed in the room, and although she hadn't raised her voice, her voice cracked through the office like a whip.

Markus fluidly got off the stool with an impish smile. "Hey, hey, nothing serious."

Lucy saw the blood trickling down his hand and then her keen gaze cut to Connor's injury, then to the wayward wad of stained fabric lying discarded at his side on the mattress. Her voice deadly quiet, she said: "Get that gauze back on your wound or so help me, I will shove it up your ass."

Connor promptly obeyed. Markus snickered, but then Lucy turned on him. "And _you_. Get. Out."

"Is that anyway to talk to your boss?" charmingly said Markus.

"It is when said boss is being a complete ass," she retorted. 

Markus narrowed his eyes at her, and somehow Connor had known it was coming as soon as Lucy had insulted him. She didn't seem to fear him, but a disrespected Markus was probably still dangerous no matter how ballsy or useful the person that provoked him was. Lucy had told Connor not to do that but she seemed the type to not follow her own advice. Or maybe she usually held back but this was one time too many of Markus intruding in her work place; after all, she seemed quite riled up.

"You might want to rephrase that, doc," he said.

Lucy crossed her arms on her chest, suddenly on the defensive. It was as Connor suspected: Markus did not discriminate when it came to respect.

"I apologize for speaking out of line, but we had a deal," Lucy told him, standing her ground.

The apology semed to satisfy Markus somewhat. The look in his eyes wasn't as hard now. "Yeah?"

"You're bothering me, go away. You can torment Connor once he's out of here."

Markus reluctantly said: "True, a deal's a deal. I'll leave you to it then." He turned to wink at Connor. "Think on it."

Lucy's staring was very insistent and very displeased, which Markus seemed to easily ignore when he made a move to leave. He only walked three steps before spinning around again and adding: "Oh and by the way, Connor. To answer your earlier question, every single one of my subordinates knows about my blood kink so yes, I do act _so unprofessional_ with all of them." 

Lucy heaved an tired sigh and made a pronounced gesture towards the door. " _Go._ "

"I'm going!" said Markus with a little laugh, and then he really was gone.

Lucy let out another sigh, this one simultaneously annoyed and relieved, and Connor could not have agreed with her more. When she looked at him, she said: "I don't want to know what you two were up to."

"That's fine by me," immediately answered Connor.

Lucy took back her seat and tugged a roll of tape and a pair of scissors out of her coat pocket. "Are you feeling faint? I just want to make sure that moron didn't make you lose too much blood while I was away."

"I'm okay. He didn't make me bleed too much." 

Lucy clearly repressed the urge to roll her eyes and just said: "I'll give you the antibiotics I went to get, and after this you'll be on your way."

"Thank you."

Lucy set to tidying the wound and after a few seconds, she suddenly said: "You had something on your mind earlier. You can ask your question before I'm done."

Connor had to take a moment to recall what question she'd mentioned, and was profoundly confused because the only thing he could think about was his initial curiosity about the size of the room. Lucy was either very very observant or possessed a supernatural ability to read minds. The latter didn't seem too far-fetched at this point.

"I was just..." He vaguely gestured to the room with his chin. "This place is small, and I was wondering how you'd handle a wave of injured people."

Lucy let out a dry laugh. "I think it would go terribly."

"You don't have the means?"

"I'm the only doctor here. Markus may be leading Jericho places but he's got a firm ideal of what will serve him in his goals and what's only superfluous. He thinks it's more useful having crowds of corrupt cops in his pockets rather than hospital workers, even though we could do with some more supplies. As for owning a hospital, it's in the plans but not about to become a reality just yet."

"Why not expand this place, at least?"

"Oh, I've tried, but then the other room got taken over for a different purpose. We'd need bigger headquarters."

"I don't understand. Making sure subordinates remain healthy is important, why is ensuring the best practice from you so low on Markus' list of priorities?"

Lucy looked at him unhappily. "He thinks if someone's worth being his subordinate, they'll know to take care of themselves. Which, granted, is true; you don't become Markus' subordinate that easily. I still think it's stupid logic that people can just tough out an injury if they really mean their loyalty to Markus."

Connor agreed, but he also understood Markus' point of view. After all, he'd been expected to tough it out for Blue Delta all his life. He'd managed. It made sense that other people could too.

"Well," she mused, cutting off the piece of bandage off the roll once Connor's wound was dressed. "It's been all right so far. Markus is reckless but he makes sure not to send his men off to slaughter during big operations, and this place is very secure. Hopefully I'll never have to deal with a wave of injured."

"What about severe injuries?"

Lucy threw away the used supplies and picked up the tray to clean everything up. "Those patients are brought to me as soon as possible so I can determine if we need to get involved with the hospital. Markus' approval is also needed in case the reason someone got injured has to be covered up. I do what I can to deal with the wounded until I get the go-ahead. Sometimes the patient dies and I can't do much about that."

"I see," Connor said with a pensive nod.

Lucy handed him a box of medicine. "Here you go. Will you need painkillers too?"

"I'll be okay," Connor assured her.

"Right." She glanced in the direction of the groaning which had only stopped during the time Markus had shown up and picked back up as soon as he'd disappeared. "That'll leave more for pansy over there." Then Lucy looked back at Connor with a little smile. "It was nice talking to you, but don't make this a regular thing."

Connor nodded. "Got it."

That night, Connor woke up from the pain in his leg. It transformed second laters in a reminder of how Markus had made it bleed and Connor remembered how the man's filthy twisted fantasy had made him react with that damned enthusiasm. Connor hated that the one he despised and wanted to kill understood him better than anyone ever had in his sorry life. He hated that he still thought of that blood-filled sexual scenario. He hated the feeling of the collar around his neck. He hated that he would be unable to reach his goal without masquerading as what Markus wanted him to be; a dog to tame, to assimilate to the ranks of Blue Delta's enemy. Connor refused to belong to Markus, refused to accept that Markus was probably willing to understand more of him than Amanda had ever been. Even if he was fully aware it would be useless and pitiful as far as rebellion went, he decided that he wouldn't wear the collar the way Markus wanted him to. 

Connor fumbled with the clasps at his nape with shaking fingers and finally ripped it away, ragingly throwing it to the other side of his dismal flat. Why was he even wearing it at night, still? It wasn't like that beating was any different from the one he'd received before. Markus didn't have to know Connor had taken off the collar. It was ridiculous he'd been so diligent about keeping it at all times like the man had requested him to, Connor only had to wear it when he was sure Markus was around to keep up appearances. It would be more than enough.

Connor glared at the thin shadow of the leather strip from his corner of the room and hunched over on his thin mattress, bitter anger and grief roiling in his entire body. He hated these feelings, the collar, Markus, all of this. He just wanted to go back to Blue Delta and mindlessly obey like he'd been trained to do all his life. He wanted to go back. He wanted to go back to Amanda but instead, Connor was stuck in this stupid charade with her murderer, and the only person he'd be going back to once this was all over was Kamski. He'd probably die soon after returning to Blue Delta. He knew that. But Amanda was dead and Connor didn't care anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- 22/08/2020 -  
> Hey pumpkin!   
> I love writing illegal practicioner Lucy, she's a real no-bullshitter in this fic.  
> Hurray for blood kinks I guess? Sure helps to build that sexual tension~  
> Connor's got Issues weeeee
> 
> Thanks for reading, leave a comment if you feel like it!


	8. Beaten Dog

Markus lazily sifted through the report on his desk which he was completely half-assing the lecture of, his thoughts drifting in the same direction they lately often had whenever he got bored. Hitched breaths, dilated pupils, a faint blush suffusing pale skin, the smell of blood filling the warm air between them, Connor's lips slightly parted in quiet fascination. How easy the other man would have been to kiss in that moment. For a few seconds Connor hadn't shown any of that rebellious, disapproving behavior: he'd been listening and transfixed by Markus' words. He'd been _receptive_ , even if only for a short moment. Connor was probably just as fucked up as him and it was the first time Markus had met anyone who experienced that exact same twisted desire for blood as he did. It was kind of exhilarating. He'd been completely serious about fucking in a blood bath; he'd never found anyone willing to do that. But Connor hadn't recoiled. Connor hadn't been disgusted. Connor had been _into_ it.

Markus had fucked five different subordinates in the next three days because he'd felt a lot hornier than usual. That hadn't been satisfying so he'd stopped doing it and he'd tried to take a moment to reflect on why he was this pent-up. The answer became obvious when he sat down to actually give the situation more than a second's thought. Connor wasn't really part of Jericho yet since he still had to prove himself, but goddammit, Markus knew he hadn't imagined that tension in Lucy's infirmary and he wanted to act on it. Anything sexual was off the table, unfortunately; Markus wasn't about to go back on that rule. It was the only one he forced himself to follow ever since he'd been stupid enough to lose his eye to a charmingly pretty stranger one night, when he'd just begun rising in power and had started threatening the established underground hierarchy, too drunk on his success to fully realize the dangers that came with such a reputation. 

Connor would definitely try to slit his throat if Markus let his guard down in a private situation. He knew resentment when he saw it. It didn't matter that Connor was compliant, wore his collar, did his job for Jericho and gave them info on Kamski; he clearly wasn't over the death of his old boss and he didn't like Markus. People had attempted to kill him for less.

And so Markus was stuck being horny for a blood-loving, good-looking, collar-suiting guy who was off-limits and who additionally hated his guts. It wasn't the greatest situation he'd ever been in. In fact, it made him cranky even after he quickly went back to sleeping with different people. North was the first of his advisors to notice, well-informed as she was of Jericho's internal happenings, and when she confronted him about it they agreed that these flings couldn't be a lasting solution. It was fine when Markus' tangents lasted a few days; it was less fine when it went past a week. Simon, Josh, North and Markus all knew he wasn't above slutting it up for months if he allowed himself to do so, but that wouldn't go well with the status and respect he'd worked hard for to earn; so they decided that the safest option was to restrain his urges to their small circle. They'd done it back when he'd lost his eye. Markus' libido was way too high to be considered normal when he was in this worked-up state and it was why he'd had to resort to sleeping with so many different subordinates in the first place, but since they were three steadfast outlets for his agitated energy, it was easier on all of them this way.

Despite this solution, Markus remained frustrated. Imagination only got him so far when it came to envisioning all the different ways he could tie Connor up, deprive him of all freedom of movement, fuck him into a state of defenseless bliss, make those sharp features twist in helpless pleasure and pain, make Connor his in a way that was more definitive than a simple collar. Blood didn't even have to be part of the equation, if Markus was honest with himself; after having handled so many docile subs, Connor was the kind of untrained and unsubmitting pet he'd wanted to try his hand at for a while. Not to mention that this was the first time Markus had ever lusted so profoundly after someone else. He couldn't help wondering how Connor would behave in the bedsheets. Would he be just as cold and pissy as he was every day? Would he even care? Would he be commanding? Would he be shy? A shy Connor... Now that was something Markus doubted he'd ever see, though the thought was surprisingly lovely. A shame there was nothing he could do to check on any of this right now.

"Boss!" North called out from the corridor where she'd stepped out to take a call, and then she burst into his office still holding her phone.

He lifted his gaze from the papers he hadn't been concentrating on at all and said: "Yeah?"

"Connor again. It wasn't explicitly against orders but it's going to be hell to clean up." When she saw the smile that Markus didn't even try to stop from spreading across his lips, she held up her hand and said: "I'll stop you right there, it's not because there's too much blood."

"What, then?"

North's expression was grave. "He killed the targets on their own turf. Luther told me they were trying to clear the scene as we speak but word will get around that your men went and attacked the Talons Faction."

That was serious. Markus silently considered this and said: "Do you know if anyone saw what happened?"

"Connor was stealthy but they're in hostile territory, it's probably just a matter of time until they get seen."

"As long as Talons don't have proof we can avoid confrontation." Markus stood up. "If they still haven't been spotted then they can finish cleaning their mess where they are, tell them to get to Dos as discreetly as possible. Jerry will know what to do."

Markus and North met up with Luther, Daniel and Connor at Cinco. It was a fun little gimmick the Jerry cintuplets had come up with to open their respective restaurant and brand it a number, and it was what had saved them from financial ruin. Markus had been amused enough by the concept to spare it some attention and then had realized it was ideal for a network to fall back on, hidden in plain sight, as the Jerrys exchanged supplies daily in colourful vans and could sometimes carry a few henchmen to a safer place.

He'd definitely wondered a few times what kind of parents gave their cintuplets the same name. Not that he really gave a damn.

Markus hadn't had the occasion to see the way Connor acted once his rampage was over: the first time, North had knocked him out. The second time, it had been Markus. Both times they'd left Connor to simmer a bit before going to see him again, so Markus had really only seen the immediate before and distant after of Connor coming down from his bloodlust. Consequently, it surprised him quite a bit to see Connor act the way he did when both him and North slid into the booth across from the three men. There was no smug or satisfied glint to his eye like there had been when he'd been standing in his victims' blood that time he'd disobeyed John. There wasn't the usual frown or sharp glare that Connor so often wielded in Markus' direction. He looked distracted and that wasn't a Connor thing as far as Markus knew. It was kind of disappointing. 

Whatever, he had bigger preoccupations right now than to get to see the desired remainders of Connor's wild episode.

"What kind of shit did you three get me into?"

Daniel visibly blanched and even Luther's stoic demeanor wavered when both men heard the anger in Markus' tone. Connor stared, but he didn't look worried. 

"They fled seconds before we showed up so we tried to take them down before they alerted their faction," explained Luther in his deep, steady voice. "I shot one. Connor was the fastest and he was the one who got rid of the rest, but by then they'd already crossed over the border."

"So you're telling me Connor's the one responsible?"

Luther hesitated. Connor glanced at him and then lowered his gaze back to the table, his expression unchanging. He kept looking at his hands for some reason. 

Daniel nervously said: "Luther gave him the order to kill them."

"Connor obeyed me," acknowledged Luther.

Markus stared them down. "You're all worthless idiots. You made a stupid mistake and you put the group in danger. Do you know how fucked we are if the Talons attack us in retaliation for this?"

"Sorry, boss," said Daniel.

"Shut up. What I'm getting from all of this is that Connor was the only one able to get rid of them because he's that much better than you, and you weren't on the scene with him because you two morons were busy sucking each other's dick while you let the new guy handle it when he's not even officially a member. Is this a fucking joke?"

Neither Daniel not Luther said anything this time. Markus turned on Connor, who lifted his head up when he noticed.

"And you, what the hell were you thinking? You've worked for Blue Delta, you know the borders, why the hell did you choose to kill those guys there?"

"I did what you told me to do. I obeyed your men's orders," Connor blandly said.

Markus narrowed his eyes at him. "Don't try to be funny. You screwed us over, very probably knowingly, and I can easily assume you did it as a form of revenge. You'd better come up with a better excuse."

"I don't have one." Connor's flat admission made the others tense and Markus felt anger flare high and bright inside of him. He stood up and reached across the table, grabbing Connor by the collar, and dragged him out of the booth over Luther and Daniel.

"North, you take care of these two shitheads while Connor and I have a little talk in the back room."

"Yessir." North leaned to the side and barked in Jerry's direction: "Hey, go with Markus."

The man immediately set down the glass he'd been cleaning and hurried in his direction. Markus ignored him and pushed Connor ahead. Jerry wouldn't play a role in this, he was just there in case Connor tried anything while he was alone with Markus. The latter wasn't talking, he'd barely reacted to getting tugged out of the booth. Jerry unlocked the door to the back room and Markus shoved Connor inside, who caught himself on the table in the middle of his path. Markus stood a few feet away from him with his hands in the pockets of his suit pants.

"Did you do this so the Talons would retaliate?"

Connor straightened and turned around to face him. "They don't know. I made sure that no one would see."

"You fucked up, Connor. Stop acting like you're on top of everything when the Talons could learn at any moment that someone witnessed you escaping from the street where the bodies were found."

"What do you want me to say, Markus?" Connor retorted. "You're going to punish me no matter what my reason is. Yes, I messed up. It's my fault that they died on Talons ground and there's nothing that can be done about it. I obeyed Luther. I killed them without realizing what this would imply and by the time I did it was too late."

"So what, Connor, you got carried away tracking them down? Is that it? That's your reason?"

Connor gazed at him and just said: "Yes."

Surprisingly, Markus didn't find it that hard to believe. But it wasn't a stretch to believe that Connor had done all this so Jericho would be destroyed, either. Claiming that he'd made a mistake and leaving it up to chance whether or not someone reported witnessing men from Jericho on Talons territory could be a strategy for Connor, so that if it failed, he could still keep his place within Markus' group because there was no proof he'd intentionally tried to lead Talons to assault Jericho. However if he'd really just lost control in his hunt for his targets, then this was another kind of problem altogether.

Markus gauged the other man's body language. Connor wasn't standing as confidently as he usually did, but he didn't look uncertain. He just looked like he was waiting. His features were still, his lips set in a line, his brown eyes staring straight at Markus.

"This couldn't possibly have happened so often with Amanda or I would've heard of it," Markus stated. "Are you doing this to rebel, or is this something she knew how to control?"

Connor didn't answer.

Markus shrugged. "Whatever. You were right, it doesn't matter what your reason was." He strode up to him and ordered: "Don't try to block or avoid it."

Connor tensed when he saw him draw back his fist, but he obeyed. The blow was heavy and Connor stumbled to the side. Markus didn't give him time to recover. He punched him two more times, almost in the same movement, driving his knuckles deep in the side of Connor's face without holding back. Markus' fist made Connor's head snap to the side and the man slumped but he quickly caught himself on the table.

"Get up."

Connor straightened without a word. He didn't look pained. He only looked like someone who was accepting his due. Markus punched him again. The sounds of his fist repeatedly slamming in Connor's face rang out in the room and Jerry silently watched. Connor's knees hit the ground.

"Get up."

Connor obeyed, minutely shaking his head when he stood and leaned against the table. The skin on the right side of his face was red and starting to swell. Markus continued and Connor just took it. The punishment continued like this in cycles, Markus punching him to the ground, ordering him to get up, Connor obeying and standing through his punishment until a particularly disorienting impact would make him collapse again. Markus didn't goad him this time. This wasn't just about discipline, really, it was more of an experiment to confirm his suspicions. One, Connor was definitely used to beatings. He barely made any noise even when Markus' knuckles split the skin of his brow and cheekbone open, when his eye was forced shut by the swelling, when he eventually had to pull himself up with the table and hold onto it because he was swaying. Two, he had very good endurance to physical strain. It took a longer while than Markus had expected of punching and making him fall and stand back up again and again until Connor started showing visible signs of fatigue, and even then he never asked Markus to stop.

Jerry had opened his mouth a few times- when Connor had started bleeding from the nose, when Connor had started showing genuine exertion while he got up, when Connor had clipped his head on the edge of the table while going down- but he'd never actually spoken out loud to make it stop, knowing better than to intervene when Markus was like this. If he had he'd probably have ended up with a few fists to the face himself, and Jerry was not half as resilient as any of Markus' men.

Eventually things came to a halt when Markus ordered for the eleventh time: "Get up."

Connor could only try to rise off the ground. He didn't manage it in the slightest. Blood poured from the wounds that littered his face, his one intact eye blinking frantically as he tried to push through his dizziness. 

"I said, get up."

Connor struggled to obey. He slowly pushed himself up on shaking arms. One gave out beneath him and he caught himself on the elbow. He tried to heave himself up a third time but his hand slipped on blood. He didn't have enough strength left to keep it steady and crashed to the floor. Air wooshed out of his lungs and he struggled to inhale again.

"Guess that's enough for now." Markus shook his red-slicked hand free of the excess of blood and stepped away, turning his back to the other man. He didn't see the shocked expression on Connor's face. His feet had brought him halfway out the door when he heard Connor speak.

"I don't wear it all the time."

Markus spun around. Despite his injuries and his obvious exhaustion, Connor was glaring at him. The man spat out the blood that had been welling up in his mouth and provocatively mumbled through a tumescent upper lip: "I take it off when I know you won't be able to tell."

Markus felt the familiar anger flood his head again, but he'd made Connor bleed and suffer long enough to partially sate the ravenous part of him that usually made him fly off the handle. Markus didn't instantly kick Connor. Instead, he came back and crouched in front of him.

"Why would you tell me that? Do you _want_ me to kill you? Because that's what'll happen if I beat your ass in your state."

Connor stayed mutinously silent.

Markus reached down and clamped his hand around the man's throat. "Or did you change you mind about the type of collar you want?" He laughed. "And you say you're not a masochist."

Something seemed to waver in Connor's eyes, less aggravation and more objection, and he recoiled- or at least, he tried to. Markus had a firm hold on his neck. 

"Let go," he growled.

"Well, you can't tell me something like that and expect me not to do anything about it. Your actions don't make a lot of sense." Markus leaned closer, applying more pressure to Connor's throat. "What did you really mean to achieve by saying that, Connor?"

"Your punches are weak," Connor hissed at him. "You call that a punishment?"

Markus considered this, an odd doubt forming in his mind. "You can barely stand on your own."

"Fuck you," spat Connor.

Of course, that instantly made Markus react, no matter if he was sated or not. Disrespect made him want to hurt and destroy and maim and his hand crushed Connor's trachea on reflex. It was silent for a good while until the man's features started to constrict and his mouth opened on useless gasps. Connor was still very adamant about not showing Markus any weakness unless he was pushed far. Markus let go and watched him hack and cough. More blood splattered on the ground.

"I have to say, I don't know what you're trying to do right now," observed Markus. "Are you absolutely certain you're not a masochist?"

There weren't many reasons that could be behind Connor trying to push all his buttons. Obviously he was trying to make Markus unleash more violence on him than he already had, but Markus was puzzled as to why. As often as he taunted Connor about it, the man didn't actually display any signs of enjoying pain. He clearly wasn't into that kind of thing. There had been the time with the blood at the infirmary, but Markus had the feeling it was more linked to the words he'd been saying out loud to Connor than the action of digging his fingers in his wounded thigh. So why was Connor so intent on this?

Connor croaked: "Fuck-"

Markus slapped his hand over Connor's mouth and leaned in even closer. "Shut it or I really will kill you."

Connor glared at him.

"You want this beating, you probably wanted it from the start. You think I'm blind? You're so obvious about it you might as well wear a neon sign around your neck saying _please kick the shit out of me_. I can't fathom why Amanda would want such a troublesome guy under her orders. You weren't troublesome with her, were you? Only right here, right now, for some reason. Tell me what the hell's going on in your head and I might decide to waste more time on your sorry ass if your reason is good enough."

Markus removed his hand. Connor was breathing hard and still glaring at him but he didn't say anything for a while. 

"Speak," ordered Markus. "Who knows, we might both get something out of this if you do."

Connor averted his gaze and his expression turned more troubled than angry. Something in his appearance shifted slightly and though Markus would've been unable to say why, he found Connor to look somewhat defeated. It was kind of offsetting coming from this prideful guy.

"You have to punish me more often."

Markus felt his eyebrows rise. He had _not_ expected those to be the words that came out of Connor's mouth. "What?"

Connor's jaw clenched, but after a short while he repeated: "You have to do this kind of thing more often."

Markus stared at him, hiding his confusion behind neutral features. "Did I hit your head too hard?"

"It was what she did." Connor's gaze flickered to Markus' face and then back to the ground, which he scowled at. "At least once a week."

"I could tell you two had a weird relationship, but are you telling me you actually had an S&M thing going on with your boss?" Markus couldn't help the hilarity in his voice. This was too good.

"No," snapped Connor. "Don't dirty her name with your perverted interests, she was nothing like you."

Markus grinned at him. "Sounds like she might've been."

"You don't know anything about her," growled Connor.

"I have a sense of kinship with Amanda, you know, heads of rival groups and all. Well, I used to. So why once a week?"

Connor's distasteful frown deepened and he reluctantly admitted: "It keeps me under control."

"Huh." Markus pensively rubbed his mouth. "And you want to continue getting beat up on the regular like that? That's kind of messed up."

"I don't want to hear that coming from you."

"Hey, even I can tell this is all kinds of fucked," said Markus with a smile. "You don't even like it."

Connor annoyedly shook his head and winced lightly, probably because his brain was feeling the effects of the earlier punches. Then he said: "It's necessary if you want to avoid incidents like this one and the precedent from happening again."

"How often do you go on a rampage if you don't get your weekly dose of abuse?"

Connor seemed to dislike what Markus had said from the way his brown gaze sharpened, but he didn't say it. "... More often than it's been. This should've happened earlier considering things have been different in Jericho, but for some reason it didn't."

Markus was silent for a bit and then asked: "So, how long have you been taking off the collar?"

Connor warily looked up at him and Markus smirked. He liked that expression of distrustful caution on the other man's face.

"A few days." Connor saw that Markus was waiting, so he precised: "Five."

"Interesting." Five days since Connor hadn't been constantly wearing the collar and this happened. It could've been a coincidence, but maybe it wasn't. "I think you need more reminders that what you do impacts your owner. More reminders that you should be careful about what you do or you might regret it when it comes back to bite you in the ass. After all, if I'm gone, you're like a lost pet in the wild."

Connor pushed himself upright on what had to be a burst of adrenalin and snarled in Markus' face: "I'm not your damn pet."

"You're what I tell you you are." Markus grabbed the side of his head and smashed him into the ground, and Connor bit back a grunt. Markus kept his hand where it was so the man couldn't get up again while he mused to himself. 

If the collar had been effective to put Connor in his place and if it had been enough for a while to stop him from doing stupid shit like putting Jericho in danger, then maybe it was an alternative to Blue Delta's beatings. It reminded Markus of the way a friend of his had trained numerous unruly subs. It could work, and it would definitely be better than preemptively beating Connor to a pulp. Markus could understand the benefit there was in making sure Connor wouldn't veer off the path of his mission by beating him up every week, but keeping him under control in a way that resulted in the physical impairment of one of the best assassins in the city sounded counterproductive.

Markus stared down at Connor. "I won't be disciplining you the same way she did. You belong to me now, we wouldn't want you getting pointless reminders of her."

"It'll be useless then," growled Connor against the floor.

Markus smiled. "No, I don't think so."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- 20/02/2021 - 
> 
> Connor, unable to move bc he got his ass beat to Neptune and back: Fuck you  
> Markus, smiling: So you have chosen death.
> 
> Hey pumpkin!  
> I loveee the aesthetic of Connor being beat up :)  
> Anyway they've got issues but what's new  
> What did you think of Connor's suggestion? And his weird behavior in the beginning?
> 
> Thanks for reading! Share your thoughts with your author below <3

**Author's Note:**

> Come by and say hi on [Tumblr](https://lost-tanuki.tumblr.com/post/184765301043/dbh-fics) (link to my DBH fic masterlist), and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/losttanuki)!
> 
> I now have a Discord server called the Pumpkin Patch server, you can pm me on Tumblr/Twitter to join. I'm looking forward to seeing you there!
> 
> Watch out for [Article 13/17](https://death-over-coffee.tumblr.com/post/184396267266/on-june-20th-the-juri-of-european-parliament), So far hasn't been a problem but you never know, it could stop me from finishing my fic one day. At least like this you're aware of it!
> 
> _  
> [Life Update for 2020-2021](https://lost-tanuki.tumblr.com/post/627373383760363520/life-update-25082020-hey-pumpkin-this)  
> _


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